eed (ietaee, iteeeter 1
=
Sane nettapace &
; ay’ eo
irae
" a
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2007 with funding from
Microsoft Corporation
_ htto://www.archive.org/details/autobiographyofvOOmorouoft
GENERAL ENRICO DELLA ROCCA.
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF A
VETERAN
1807-1893
BY
Moro2.26
GENERAL COUNT ENRICO DELLA ROCCA
A
Translated from the Italian and Edited by
JANET Ross
as
6
$
LONDON Fy |
T. FISHER UNWIN oy
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1899
LAR Raghts reserved)
\ ide
INTRODUCTION
AT the request of my wife and family I begin to-day,
Sunday, the 15th January 1893, to dictate my memoirs.
I shall incorporate with them historical events in which
I had a part, or which passed under my eyes. Until my
eightieth year I read without glasses, but gradually my
sight has failed and I am almost blind, so my wife will
be my secretary. I shall dictate and recount—she will
write. We shall make use of the letters I regularly wrote
to her during the campaigns of 1859, 1860 and 1866; and
also of some hastily-written notes, jotted down, chiefly
at her request, between 1870-1885, of impressions and
thoughts, of facts witnessed by me, and details about
the celebrated men who were my contemporaries.
The work will not, I think, be easy; as having never
thought of transmitting to posterity any account of my
own times, and still less of my own life, I never collected
or arranged my numerous records or the documents
bearing upon them. I have narrated much and written
a few things, but always in a desultory fashion; and my
secretary will have enough to do to keep me in order
b
vi INTRODUCTION
and make me attend strictly to chronology. However,
I will do my best in order to please my dear ones.
I shall try to recall the memories of a past which I
love for several reasons—my good fortune at witnessing
the awakening of the noble idea of an independent and
united Italy—seeing it realised, chiefly by the exertions
of men belonging to the small and gallant country where
I, my forebears and my grandchildren were born—and for
the active part I took in nearly all the important events
which have happened between 1848 and 1870.
But I particularly wish to remind those who one
day may read these memoirs that they were written
solely in deference to the wishes of my own family, and
that I never had any idea of making a historical or a
literary work, or of imposing my judgments or appre-
ciations, still less, of weaving panegyrics or destroying
idols. I consider that some of my contemporaries were
superior to the reputation they enjoyed, while others
were praised beyond their deserts. JI have always,
without adulation for the first, or bad feeling towards
the latter, expressed my opinion frankly and in all
sincerity.
October 1896.
CoN rE NTS
CHAPTER I
1807-1820
Birth — Family — My First Memories: 1811, 712, °13, ’14, *15 —
Victor Emanuel I.—Marie Theresa of Este—Prince Charles
Albert of Carignano—1816—I become a Page: Entry into
the Military Academy—Marriage of the Prince of Carignano—
First Revolutionary Symptoms—Birth of Victor Emanuel II.—
Pages and Their Duties, : ; ‘ ; :
!
CHAPTER II
1821-1825
Fire during a Ball at Court—The Prince of Carignano and the Revolu-
tion— Opinions concerning the Prince in the time of Charles
Felix—The Revolution of the 12th of March—Abdication of
Victor Emanuel I.—His Departure—Charles Albert as Regent
—The Constitution—The Pupils go to Superga—My Escape,
with other Boys, to Fight the Austrians—Our Capture—Sojourn
at Superga—Exile of Charles Albert—Battle of Novara and
Return of Charles Felix’ to Turin—Victor Emanuel I. at Mon-
calieri—Charles Albert goes to Spain to Fight the Constitu-
tionalists—He returns to Turin—I am a Sub-Lieutenant—Some
of my Companions at the Academy: La Marmora, Cavour,
Cavalli—I enter the General Staff,
CHAPTER III
1825-1840
The Staff—General Paolucci—Death of King Charles Felix—Acces-
sion of Charles Albert—His Character—Life at Racconigi—
Young Italy—My prey to Sardinia—Bear HESONS with
Duke of Savoy, :
CHAPTER IV
1840-1841
Rumours of War—My Secret Mission to France—Am named First
Equerry to Duke of Savoy—His Shooting Parties—His Dis-
like of La Marmora—His Marriage,
vii
PAGE
14
26
34
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER V
1842-1847
Maria Adelaide—Private Life of Victor Emanuel—My Relations with
Him—Maria Elizabeth visits Her Brother Charles Albert—His
Melancholy increases—His Uncertain Policy—Election of Pope
Pius IX.—Meeting of Agrarian Society at Casale—Charles
Albert grants Reforms—Birth of Maria Pia of Savoy, . ; 40
PAGE
CHAPTER VI
1848
Genoese Deputation—Cavour as Editor of the Rzsoxgimento—Duke of
Savoy disguised among the Mob—Baron La Tour—Charles
Albert grants the Constitution—Carnival Time in Turin—Re-
volution in Paris and Vienna, the ‘Five Days’ of Milan and
the Rising in Venice—War is declared—I am named Colonel
and Chief of the Staff to Victor Emanuel—The King takes
Command of the Army—The Austrians retire towards the Adige
—An attempt to besiege Peschiera—Pastrengo—The Austrians
retreat on Verona—Battle of Santa Lucia—We retreat, . \ 49
CHAPTER VII
1848—continued
My Plan to prevent a Junction between Radetzky and Nugent—Spys
at Villafranca—We concentrate at Valeggio—The Austrians
attack Us—Victor Emanuel is Wounded—Fall of Peschiera—
Radetzky takes Vicenza--We blockade Mantua—Battle of Custoza
—We retreat on Goito—King refuses Armistice—We retreat on
Milan—Tumults in Milan—Capitulation—We evacuate Milan, . 68
CHAPTER VIII
END OF 1848. BEGINNING OF 1849
Vigevano—Armistice signed at Milan—General Bava’s Account of the
Campaign—Is dismissed and succeeded by General Czarnowsky
—His Plans—I am named Major-General—Our Retreat on
Novara—Hard Fighting at Bicocca—We are driven back on
Novara—Charles Albert abdicates—Victor Emanuel becomes
King—I rally Fugitives—Am called to Turin by Victor Emanuel
and become Minister of War, 89
CHAPTER IX
1849—continued
The First Ministry of King Victor Emanuel—Stormy Scene in the
Chambers—Revolt in Genoa—Disbanding the Lombard Legion
—General Ramorino condemned and shot—Victor Emanuel and
Radetzky meet—Negotiations for Peace—D’Azeglio becomes
Prime Minister—Peace is ratified—Death of Charles Albert—
I leave the Ministry and Marry, . : . : 2 ae
CONTENTS
CHAPTER X
END OF 1849-55
Life at Moncalieri—Parliament dissolved—New Chambers ratify Treaty
with Austria—Marriage of Duke of Genoa—Enmity of Foreign
Powers—Sir James Hudson—Stormy Debates on Kcclesiastical
Matters—Cavour becomes Prime Minister—Death of Duke of
Genoa,
CHAPTER XI
1855-1857
Death of Queen Maria Theresa—Death of Queen Maria Adelaide and
Her Child—Expedition to the Crimea—Victor Emanuel visits
Paris and London—Napoleon advises Him to Marry again—I am
sent to Dusseldorf—Countess Castiglione’s Jewels—Prescience of
Cavour—Mazzini attempts to seize the Arsenal at Genoa—Sends
’ Conspirators to Padula,
CHAPTER XII
1858. BEGINNING OF 1859
Orsini attempts Life of Napoleon III.—I am sent as Ambassador Extra-
ordinary to Paris—Anger of the Emperor—Victor Emanuel’s
Letter—Princess Mathilde at the Tuilleries Ball—Napoleon
promises His Aid against Austria—The Treaty of Plombiéres—
Am named Head of the General Staff—Declaration of War—
French Troops arrive in Piedmont—Incapacity of Giulay—
Garibaldi takes Command of Volunteers—Victor Emanuel re-
ceives Tuscan Deputation,
CHAPTER XIII
1859 (SECOND PART)
Arrival of Napoleon—Montebello—Concentration of Allied Armies—
Garibaldi’s Victories—Palestro—Victor Emanuel and the Zouaves
—Retreat of the Austrians—Magenta—Victor Emanuel accepts
Sovereignty of Lombardy—I follow Urban, but am stopped by
Desvaux, . : : : i ‘ : ;
CHAPTER XIV
1859 (THIRD PART)
Entry into Milan—Ze Deum in Cathedral—We enter Brescia—De-
putations from Trent and Bologna—The Empress advises
Napoleon to return to France—Solferino—S. Martino—We
invest Peschiera—Austrians send Flag of Truce—Armistice—
Violent Scene between Victor Emanuel and Cavour—Cavour
resigns—Napoleon and Victor Emanuel enter Milan—Cold
Reception at Turin, ; ‘
ix
PAGE
118
127
139
153
x CONTENTS
CHAPTER XV
END OF 1859. BEGINNING OF 1860
Marshal Vaillant—Napoleon objects to the Annexation of Tuscany—
Cavour returns to Power—Persuades Napoleon to agree to
Annexation of Tuscany—I am named Commander of the 5th
Army Corps—Annexation of Tuscany, sara and the Romagna
—Garibaldi upbraids Cavour, ‘ :
CHAPTER XVI
1860
The King visits New Provinces—Sends me to Compliment the ex-
Duchess of Lucca at Viareggio—Embarkation of the ‘ Thousand ’
for Sicily—Our March into Umbria—Cardinal Antonelli and
Cavour—Siege and Capitulation of Perugia—Execution of Priest
—Siege of Ancona—Arrival of Victor Emanuel at Ancona,
CHAPTER XVII
Plébiscite at Sulmona—Immorality of the Neapolitans—Garibaldi at
Capua—His Noble Conduct—Siege and Capitulation of Capua
—Garibaldi Dictator of Naples—Victor Emanuel enters Naples
—Miracle of San Gennaro—Mazzini and the two Dumas’,
CHAPTER XVIII
1861
Victor Emanuel impatient for the Fall of Gaeta—He induces Me to
accept the Military Command of the Two Sicilies—Prince
Eugene of Carignano Viceroy of asrniis of erie Sree
—Bribery—Death of Cavour,
CHAPTER XIX
1861-1864
I go to Berlin as Ambassador Extraordinary—Coronation of William
I.—-The Earl of Clarendon offers His Services—Napoleon
demands a Guarantee, ; 3
CHAPTER XX
1864
Riots in Turin—Police fire on the People—‘ Rome or Death ’—I invite
Minghetti to resign—La Marmora Prime Minister—Ricasoli
appeals to the Patriotism of the Piedmontese Deputies,
PAGE
169
176
191
203
212
219
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXI
1865
The Mob insults the King’s Guests—The King leaves for Florence—
Closer Alliance with Prussia, ; : ;
CHAPTER XXII
1866 (FIRST PART)
False Statements of the Austrian Cabinet—Mobilisation of our Army
-—A Newspaper Correspondent—Declaration of War by Prussia
and Italy—We cross the Mincio, . ; ,
=
CHAPTER XXIII
THE DAY OF CUSTOZA
Defective Reconnaissance—Prince Humbert under Fire—I search in
vain for the Commander-in-Chief—I am ordered to hold Villa-
franca—Our Retreat towards Goito—I.a Marmora throws up
His Command—Our Fatal Mistakes, ‘ :
CRAPTER XXIV
1866 (THIRD PART)
Disastrous Telegrams—Cialdini takes Command of 150,000 Men—I
. Command a Reconnaissance in Force—It is Countermanded—
General Austrian Retreat after Sadowa—Prussia Signs Pre-
liminaries of Peace without consulting Italy—Prince Jerome
Napoleon—La. Marmora compelled to ask for an Armistice—
We are threatened by France and Prussia—La Marmora sacri-
fices His Popularity,
CRAPTER XXV
1866-1867
Cialdini Chief of the Staff of the Army—IIlness of Victor Emanuel—
La Marmora retires to Private Life—Annexation of Venetia—
Enthusiastic Reception of Victor Emanuel in Venice—Marriage
of Prince Amadeus of Savoy—Death of Count di Castiglione,
xi
PAGE
227
233
242
257
270
Xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXVI
1867-1870
PAGE
Garibaldi preaches Rebellion, is Imprisoned, then sent to Caprera—
Escapes and beats the Papal Troops at Monte Rotondo—
Mentana—Marriage of Prince Humbert and Princess Margaret
of Savoy—Alarming Illness of the csnecbnanas of the Prince of
Naples—Rome, Capital of Italy, . : 277
TO THE READER, . : R ' ; , . Be
EPILOGUE—1871-1893, . 286
Autobiography of a Veteran
Crewe TER I
1807-1820
Birth — Family — My First Memories: 1811, *12, °13, 714, °15 — Victor
Emanuel I.—Maria Theresa of Este—Prince Charles Albert of Carignano
—1816—I become a Page: Entry into the Military Academy—Marriage
of the Prince of Carignano—First Revolutionary ats deh ghee of
Victor Emanuel II.—Pages and Their Duties.
I wAs born in Turin on the 20th June 1807, a few days
after the battle of Friedland which Thiers pronounces to
be la plus belle de tous les siécles, and on the eve of the
day when those arch-enemies Napoleon and Alexander
embraced on the Niemen. On the 20th June was, and
still is, celebrated at Turin the feast of a miraculous image
of the Virgin, the Madonna of Consolation, and my mother,
a pious and excellent woman, consecrated me to her, fully
persuaded that her fourth son’s happiness was thus secured.
I can hardly affirm that her hopes were entirely realised,
but I must admit that my life has relatively been a happy
one ; perhaps because I am endowed with a certain amount
of philosophy which prevents my attributing more import-
ance to men or to events than they deserve.
After the enforced abdication of Charles Emanuel IV.
in 1798, Piedmont passed under the dominion of the
French Republic with a fictitious semblance of liberty and
independence ; then, thanks to the Austro-Russian inter-
A
2 AUTOBIOGRAPAY OF A VETERAN
vention, or more correctly speaking, to that of General
Suvaroff, she returned for a short time to legitimate
monarchy under a regency lacking decorum or power.
After the battle of Marengo she again fell under the French
yoke. Divided in 1802 into four departments, she formed
part of the Republic, and afterwards of the Empire, until
the Restoration. In 1807 Piedmont was ruled by a general
who was at the same time head of the 28th military division
and civil governor. In the following year he was suc-
ceeded. by Camillo Borghese, husband of Pauline Bona-
parte, sister of the Emperor, who lived in Turin until 1814,
when the Empire was overthrown. I was therefore born a
French subject in the capital of the department of the Po.
My father, Charles Philip, was the second son of the
Marquis Gaspar Morozzo of Bianze, and of Irene Scar-
ampi of Canino, whose eight sisters, with the exception of
one who became the Marchioness of Bevilacqua, were all
married in Turin, so we had innumerable cousins among
the Piedmontese nobility. Marquis Gaspar and his wife
had five sons: Charles Emanuel, Marquis of Bianzé;
Charles Philip, Marquis Della Rocca, my father; Louis,
abbé Morozzo; Joseph, chevalier Morozzo, finance minis-
ter, who kept that title till he died, and was director of the
hospitals and charitable institutions of Turin; and one
daughter, Christine, who married the Marquis Taparelli
d’Azeglio and was the mother of Massimo d’Azeglio.
The Marquis Gaspar would now be accounted very
eccentric, but in those days he represented the common
type of the eldest born of noble and rich families. Brought
up to regard himself as superior to his brothers and quite
above ordinary mortals, he was persuaded that by divine
and fhuman laws he was sole representative of his
ancestors and sole master of their large fortune, which ' by
right would go to his eldest son. No other member of
his family was to marry. They were to enter the army or
MY FAMILY | 3
the government services, take holy orders, or become Knights
of Malta. To a.man imbued with such notions, the new
ideas introduced by the French Revolution were odious.
Intensely hostile to the Republican government, which he,
with many others, considered to be simply revolutionary
and not likely to last, he was subjected to all kinds of
vexations by our French rulers in the shape of taxes and
fines. Once they seized the fifteen horses in his stable,
saying that it was good for the health of Cztzzen Morozzo
to walk. My grandfather, who never replied unless ad-
dressed as Marquis of Bianze, immediately gave orders to
his numerous factors to collect the finest mules they could
find on his estates, and drove them, splendidly harnessed,
four-in hand through the streets of Turin, especially under
the windows of the governor’s palace. It can easily be
imagined how angry he was at the announcement, in spite
of his opposition, of the marriage of his second son, Charles
Philip, in 1799.1. His bride was Sophia Asinari of the
_Marquises of Gresy, charming and of noble birth, but poor.
Marquis Gaspar immediately altered his will, and divided
what he had set apart for Charles between the abbé and
the chevalier Joseph. All he gave him was a cottage with
a dairy farm at Valfenera near Asti, which brought in
about £160 a year, and a small apartment in the palace at
Turin. He never relented towards his second son or gave
him another penny, and died in 1813 without having known
his grandchildren. If by chance we met our grandfather in
1Charles Philip, my father, was azde-de-camp to General Costa di Beau-
regard in 1796, and went with him to Cherasco on the 28th April, when the
conditions of the peace of Cherasco were settled. They were dictated by
General Bonaparte, and afterwards copied in the office of the Sardinian head
of the staff. The young azde-de-camp, who probably had to make several
copies, kept one, which is now in the small archive where I have collected
the documents which will be used in these memoirs. I shall henceforward
call this the small Della Rocca archive to distinguish it from the large and
dusty archives of the Counts Morozzo and the Marquis Della Rocca, which
contain documents dating from 1300.
4 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
the street we were made to bow most respectfully, but our
salute was never returned; the Marquis Gaspar invariably
turned away his head and walked straight on. Very
different from the good King Victor Emanuel I., who, on
his return to the capital in 1814, resumed his favourite
walks under the porticos of Via di Po, accompanied by
his first equerry. When he met us, and recognised the
children of his faithful servant the Marquis Della Rocca,
he always returned our bows and often called us to him
and caressed the smaller ones; bidding us tell our father
that he had stopped us in order to send him an affection-
ate doundi (good day).
As I have already said, my grandfather Gaspar died
in 1813 without leaving anything to my father, and in
the same year my seventh and last brother was born.!
My parents brought up their large family with the strictest
economy, giving us the example of a regular life, without
luxuries or elegance, but contented and good-humoured.
My kind and gentle father, who was delicate, left every-
thing to his wife, in whose judgment he had implicit
confidence. Healthy, robust and resolute, she ruled our
small army with perfect success. There were no schools,
or at all events we never went to any. Our father taught
us reading, writing and arithmetic, and an excellent priest,
towards whom we were sometimes wanting in respect,
gave us Latin lessons and made us recite our catechism.
Both of my parents were passionately fond of music, and
in spite of manifold household occupations my mother
found time to play the harp, then the fashionable instru-
ment among ladies and young girls. My father some-
times accompanied her on the spinet, but oftener played
his own compositions, when our elder sister Louisa, born
in 1800, was charged to stop the diabolical noise we made
in the small apartment. Woe betide him who broke the
1In 1819 my sister Caroline, who is still alive, was born.
VICTOR EMMANUEL I. 5
silence ordered by my mother, or who left the place where
he was seated with his back to the wall. Poor Louisa
was our victim, and her shins might have told more
eloquently than she did the number of kicks received
when trying to impose silence or immobility on us. If
my mother noticed any movement, or heard whimpering
or naughty words addressed to Louisa, she came to her
aid, and, administering one or two good boxes on the
ears, put the offender into the corner with his face to the
wall. Such discipline was an excellent preparation for
the college, and for the army into which we were all
to enter. None of us ever dreamed of complaining
about our parents, or thinking they were harsh, nor did
we ever expect the fondling which I see is the foundation
of modern education, and which renders young men in-
tolerant of every privation.
In 1814 the possessions of the House of Savoy were
returned to them by virtue of the Treaty of Vienna, with
the addition of the city of Genova and other Ligurian
towns. Charles Emanuel IV., who in 1799 protested from
Sardinia against the abdication forced upon him by the
French, had voluntarily resigned his crown in 1804 after
the death of his wife, Maria Clotilde, sister of the un-
fortunate Louis XVI. of France. He retired to private life
in Rome, and ceded all his rights to his brother, the Duke
of Aosta, afterwards King Victor Emanuel I. I perfectly
remember every circumstance connected with the entry
of the king into Turin, as far as a child of seven could
see it. He was to pass along the Via di Po, so we went
to the balcony of the Countess Ferrari’s! house at one
corner of the street. Thence we saw the king, mounted
on a Sardinian galloway, dressed in his old uniform of
1 Sister of the Countess of Castelborgo, my godmother ; both descended
from the Marchioness of San Sebastiano and of Spigno, morganatic wife of
Victor Amadeus II.
6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
1798,1 blue with broad red facings a long waistcoat,
white breeches and big jack boots, a Prussian hat, and a
wig with a bobtail which hung down his back. The
king was received with loud and enthusiastic cheers;
the people crowded round him, and all wanted to grip
his hands, but only succeeded in kissing his boots. This
was the first popular demonstration I witnessed ; after-
wards I saw many in the suite of Charles Albert and
Victor Emanuel II.
Immediately after the king’s return he restored things
to the condition they were in before the departure of
Charles Emanuel IV. Sixteen years of exile spent
among the bare rocks of his island—often badly informed
about the course of events, and therefore incapable of
understanding their importance—had seemed to him a
dream, a cruel and oppressive nightmare. Awaking
amidst the joyous demonstrations of his subjects, he
felt impelled to destroy every trace of those sad years
and to restore the old condition of mutual love between
people and king. He did not perceive that all was
changed, that individuals and ideas had progressed and
could not turn back. A kind and excellent man, he
was wanting in discernment. He immediately recalled,
not only the faithful adherents of the monarchy, but,
consulting old almanacs of the years preceding the
abdication, he reinstated all the old functionaries. It
was absurd, and at the same time sad, to hear of dead
men being gazetted to their old posts. All this caused
considerable dissatisfaction, particularly in the army,
where officers retrograded in rank, and lost the steps
they had gained under the French government. But
others have written about this, and I shall return to my
1Tt was the uniform of Victor Amadeus III.,-z.¢., of a general of the
Guards. Charles Emanuel IV., who was no soldier, had changed nothing in
the uniform worn under his predecessor.
MARIA THERESA OF ESTE 7
reminiscences. My father was one of the first to be
reinstalled in his rank and pay as captain of the King’s
Dragoons, but owing to the heart disease which at last
killed him after great suffering, he was forced to exchange
into the bodyguard. He was named quarter-master,
corresponding to the rank of major, so our poverty was
a little alleviated.
The return of the queen from Sardinia, and of the
young Prince of Carignano from France, was the subject
of conversation in every household of Turin. Victor
Emanuel I., obedient to the call of the allied powers in
1814, had come post-haste from Cagliari to Turin, but
would not allow his wife to join him until peace was
assured in Europe. After the battle of Waterloo and
Bonaparte’s exile to St Helena in 1815, the queen, impatient
to see Piedmont and Turin, where she had reigned supreme
as the beautiful Duchess of Aosta! in 1789 and the follow-
ing years, left Sardinia to join her husband. Disembark-
ing at Genoa, where she was received with acclamation,
she entered Turin, accompanied by her four daughters:
Beatrice, already married to her uncle Francis IV. of
Modena; Maria Theresa and Marianne, twins of fifteen;
and little Christine, born in 1812. Fifteen young girls of
the first families of Piedmont awaited her arrival, with
nosegays and baskets of flowers, on the new bridge of the
Po, which she inaugurated.
Maria Theresa was still beautiful, and the sight of her,
surrounded by those four youthful faces, touched the
hearts of the enthusiastic crowd. Her popularity did not,
however, last long. Murmurs and complaints soon began,
accusing her of pride and hardness, of incapacity to under-
stand the changes which had taken place during the exile
of the royal family, and of using her great influence
1 Maria Theresa d’Este, who married Victor Emanuel, Duke of Aosta,
afterwards King of Sardinia, was sister to Francis IV., Duke of Modena.
8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
with the king for party purposes-and in favour of re-
pression.
Victor Emanuel I. had also summoned to Turin the
young Prince Charles Albert! of Carignano, heir-presump-
tive to the throne if the queen or the Duchess of Genevese?
had no male children. He was seventeen, a sub-lieutenant
in the French army, but, on arriving at Turin, the king
made him quit foreign service and its uniform. Tall,
lithe, and handsome, gay, and full of fun, he became the
cynosure of all eyes, the subject of much talk, and the
centre of many ambitions, when the favourable impression
he had made upon the king was known. At the head of
his household, as governor, was placed old Count Grimaldi,
who fulfilled his duties too conscientiously to please the
1 Charles Albert, Prince of Carignano, was a direct descendant, but of the
second branch, of Charles Emanuel I., the Great.
CHARLES EMANUEL I.
Line 7 Savoy. | Line of aig
Victor Amadeus I., Cardinal Maurice. Thomas,
b. 1597—d. 1687. Prince of Carignano,
6. 1595—d@. 1656.
Charles Emanuel II.,
b. 1634—d. 1775. Emanuel Philibert.
6. 1628—d. 1709.
Victor Amadeus II.,
first King, Victor Amadeus,
b. 1666—d. 1732. 6. 1690—d. 1741.
Charles Emanuel III., Ludovic Victor,
6. 1701—d. 1773. 6. 1721—d. 1778.
Victor Amadeus III., Victor Amadeus,
b. ve 1796. b. 1743—d. 1780.
l l | Charles Emanuel,
Charles Emanuel IV., Victor Emanuel I., Charles Felix., 4 1770—d. 1800.
b. 1751—d. 1819. b. 1759—d. 1824. 6. 1765—d. 1831. |
Charles Albert,
b. 1798—d. 1849.
=
2 Maria Christine, daughter of the King of Naples, and wife of Charles
Felix, brother of Victor Emanuel I.
PRINCE CHARLES ALBERT OF CARIGNANO 9
young prince. He liked the first equerries no better; if
not antediluvian, they at all events dated from those
famous Court almanachs of 1798. The king, whose affec-
tion for Charles Albert increased daily, soon named
younger and more acceptable men to the post. All
Turin was astonished at the favour shown to the young
prince, and it was rumoured that Victor Emanuel wished
him to marry one of the twins, but that the Prince of
Carignano was alarmed at the idea of Maria Theresa as
a mother-in-law. Yet she was not a bad or a heartless
woman. No one knew this better than my father, who
was generously and kindly tended by her when seized
with sudden illness in the royal palace at Genoa. But
irritated by the worries of a long exile, and saddened by the
loss of her only son, which destroyed all hope of seeing
her descendants on the throne, she had become soured,
and by her frank, sometimes even rude, speech she daily
offended those around her, and showed too plainly her
bitter disappointment at finding the popularity she had
enjoyed as Duchess of Aosta no longer existed. Although
intelligent and superior to the princes of the House of
Savoy of that generation, she could not seize or make
allowance for the great changes which had taken place
in Piedmont during the French occupation. The royal
family, completely isolated in Sardinia, were like that
princess in the fairy tale who, on awaking from a
hundred years’ sleep, was astonished to find things were
no longer the same—those sixteen years of sleep in Sar-
dinia counted for more than a hundred in olden days.
In 1816 two young equerries—Count Gerbaix de
Sonnaz and the chevalier Silvano Costa di Beauregard—
were added to the Prince of Carignano’s household.
And as the king had twelve pages, and his brother, the
Duke of Genevese, six, five were chosen for the service
of his nephew, of whom I was one. My four companions,
10 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
all between nine and twelve years of age, were Victor di
Seyssel d’Aix, Faussone di Germagnano, the son of Count
Filippi, and Coccognito di Montiglio. Our uniform, not
to say livery, as Camillo di Cavour, who became page a .
few years after myself, called it, was of scarlet cloth with
silverembroidery. We wore white silk stockings and shoes
with buckles, and our hat was boat shaped. Our duties
consisted in accompanying the princes and princesses to
all Court functions, to church, to the theatre, to balls,
following them upstairs, walking by their carriage, holding
up their trains, and waiting on them in public. The Prince
of Carignano was always pleasant and kind to us; in those
days he was full of life and gaiety, fond of talking, and
could be sarcastic; I suspect he often wished to join us
in a game of romps. He undertook to have us taught
riding in his riding school, and often lifted the smaller
boys into their saddles or made the bigger ones trot and
gallop by his side.
The military college was reopened by the king in 1816,
and I was one of the first scholars. The idea was to
educate a corps of good officers, who were to be not only
instructed in the art of war, but inured from childhood to
fatigue and privations. Our first swallow-tailed uniform
was of blue cloth with crimson pipings. We wore short
breeches and cloth gaiters up to our knees. In summer
our breeches were white, and cold or hot, rain or sun,
summer began for us on the feast of Corpus Domini.
In 1817 Victor Emanuel determined that the Prince
of Carignano, heir-presumptive to the throne, ought to
marry. His choice fell on the Archduchess Maria Theresa,
daughter of Ferdinand III., Grand Duke of Tuscany,
whose fair hair, youth, magnificent complexion, and
courteous, dignified manners had pleased Charles Albert.
The marriage took place at Florence in September 1817,
and early in October the young couple came to Turin. I
MARRIAGE OF PRINCE OF CARIGNANO
remember going with the other pages and equerries to
meet them at the Valentino Palace, once the residence of
Christina of France called Madame Royal. This pretty
palace, then surrounded by shady walks and groups of
old trees, was the first halting-place of royal visitors out-
side Turin. Now it is in the town. The prince and his
bride entered a state carriage with large glass windows,
drawn by four horses; three footmen stood behind and
the two youngest pages, Filippi and I, stood on either
side of the front windows on small steps added for the
occasion. Whose idea this was I do not know, but we
boys traversed the town with our hearts in our mouths.
The State entry, probably arranged more in honour of
the bride than of our young prince, was the cause of
great future annoyance to him. Charles Felix, Duke
of Genevese, who had just returned from Sardinia
where he had been acting as regent, was jealous of the
position given to Charles Albert. He regarded it as a
personal affront, and so pestered the king and queen, and
the master of the ceremonies Marquis Pamparato, that he
obtained a rectification in the archives of court ceremonials
kept by the grand master. He was ordered to register
that the honours rendered to the Princes of Carignano
were addressed, not to Charles Albert, who was only a
Serene Highness, but to his bride, who as an Imperial
and Royal Highness and Archduchess of Austria had a
right to them. The obvious thing would have been to
create Charles Albert a Royal Highness, but Charles
Felix, and, they say also, the queen, who both still hoped
for an heir in the direct line, were so hostile that King
Victor abandoned the idea. From that day began the
underhand, but unceasing and active malevolence of the
Duke of Genevese towards the Prince of Carignano.
Some years later, when Charles Felix was king, and he
was advised to grant the title of Royal Highness to Charles
12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
Albert, he replied, ‘I cannot; one is.born a Royal High-
ness, one cannot be made one.’
In 1820 the breath of revolution from Spain and
Naples reached Piedmont, and the new ideas of constitu-
tional government were first broached. Carbonari arrived
in small bands, and members of the first Piedmontese
families, the Dal Pozzo della Cisterna, the Perrone di San
Martino, Collegno, Moffa di Lisio, Santa Rosa, Verasis di
Castiglione, etc., were affiliated. They were joined by
the officers who had fought under Napoleon, and under
the restoration had been deprived of a step in rank.
People talked openly about the Carbonari and the mal-
contents. The young men, always greedy for any novelty,
were divided into two camps—the French Constitutionalists
and the Spanish. The more fashionable and frivolous, led
by the Marquis di Priero, were for the former. Gay and
noisy, they dressed with the greatest care, according to
French fashions. Sombre, nay even dramatic, wrapped in
large cloaks, and wearing broad-brimmed white hats, the
Spanish Constitutionalists stalked through the streets of
Turin without attracting the attention of the king. Per-
haps as it was Carnival time, he thought, or lie to
think, it was a Carnival joke.
On the 14th March the Princess of Carignano gave birth
to a son, who was to be the future King Victor Emanuel
II. Born during the first revolutionary movements for the
unity and independence of Italy, clazrvoyants might well
have hailed him the Hope of Italy.
We pages were among the first to see the new-born
baby, as we held torches round the font while he was being
baptized. Some time afterwards, finding the door of the
nursery half open, I entered, and absorbed at the sight of
the baby in his cradle, was standing by him, when the
Princess of Carignano came in. She scolded me well and
forbade me ever to come near those rooms again without
PAGES AND THEIR DUTIES 13
special permission. Twenty years later, when I was first
equerry to Duke Victor Emanuel, I told him how I had
been turned out of his room. He laughed heartily, but
deplored his mother’s love for strict Court etiquette,
which bored him, and which he abolished on coming to
the throne.
In the same year, 1820, I began my studies in the
Academy for entering the general staff. The course of
instruction lasted five years, and I must confess that the
lessons of French and Italian literature left much to be
desired. They were not calculated to teach even those
who were extraordinarily gifted, like Camillo di Cavour,
to write really well. Cavour often lamented how difficult
he found it to express his thoughts in elegant Italian.
Mathematics and military tactics were, however, admirably
taught, and those who failed in after years to distinguish
themselves had only their own laziness or incapacity to
thank.
1 * Dans ma jeunesse on ne m’ a jamais appris 4 écrire ; je n’ai pas eu de
professeurs de rhétorique ni méme d’humanité ; aussi ce n’est qu’avec la plus
grande appréhension que je me decidérais 4 livrer un manuscrit 4 limprim-
erie. .. .’ (Cavour. Le?tere, Vol. I., p. 330, Collezione Luigi Chiala.)
CHAPTER tT
1821-1825
Fire during a Ball at Court—The Prince of Carignano and the Revolution—
, Opinions concerning the Prince in the time of Charles Felix—The Revo-
lution of the 12th of March—Abdication of Victor Emanuel I.—His
Departure—Charles Albert as Regent—The Constitution—The Pupils go
to Superga—My Escape, with other Boys, ’to Fight the Austrians—Our
Capture—Sojourn at Superga—Exile of Charles Albert—Battle of Novara
and Return of Charles Felix to Turin—Victor Emanuel I. at Moncalieri—
Charles Albert goes to Spain to fight the Constitutionalists—He returns
to Turin—I am a Sub-Lieutenant —Some of my Companions at the
Academy: La Marmora, Cavour, Cavalli—I enter the General Staff.
THE political horizon in the beginning of 1821 was
sloomy; even we boys were conscious of the growing
agitation in Turin without understanding what it meant.
During a Court ball at the end of Carnival a fire broke
out in the Palace Ciablese, now belonging to the Duke of
Genova,! which forms one wing of the royal palace. We
afterwards heard that there had been riots, not only in
the capital but also in the provinces, for some days, and
that the fire was supposed to be the work of the Carbonari
and the Revolutionists, who hoped in the confusion to be
able to approach the royal family and to demand reforms
and the Constitution. What I saw (as all the pages were
on duty) was that the Prince of Carignano left the ball, and
returned in about an hour with his Court suit all blackened
with smoke, and high boots over his silk stockings, to
1 The Duke of Ciablese, uncle of Victor Emanue I., left his palace to
Charles Felix, Duke of Genevese, brother of Victor Emanuel I., who suc-
ceeded him as King of Sardinia.
14
REVOLUTION 15
report to the king. A second time he left, and then came
back to announce that all was safe and the fire extin-
guished. I and all my companions noticed that Victor
Emanuel listened attentively and talked graciously to the
young prince, while the queen frowned and glanced sneer-
ingly at his boots and dirty coat. The Duke of Genevese,
who was in the royal circle, did worse, for as Charles
Albert approached he deliberately turned his back on
him and walked away. He was suspected, unknown to
himself, of being on good terms with the Cardonarz,
and Charles Felix was on the point of accusing him of
incendiarism.
I forgot to say that the year before, on the birth of
Prince Victor, the king had named the Prince of Carig-
nano Commander-in-Chief of the artillery. This important
post threw considerable power into his hands, and the
constitutional Monarchists, then considered revolutionists,
among whom were many Cardonarz, centered their hopes
in him. They expected that the young and liberal
prince would put himself at the head of a party whose
ambition was, with an enlarged and strengthened Pied-
mont, to form a kingdom of Italy, ruled by a constitutional
king of the House of Savoy.
From 1818 to 1821 were perilous times for Charles
Albert. The various parties who looked upon the restora-
tion, or rather the resurrection of a dead past, as a farce,
were searching for a personality—a name—in whose
honour to unfurl the constitutional flag, and thought they
had found him in the Prince of Carignano. So convinced
were they that to him the idea of a constitutional Italy,
united under his sway, would prove irresistible, that they
made sure that he shared their notions. It appears, how-
ever, that the prince had never been approached on the sub-
ject. In the first days of March 1821 all eyes were turned
on him, but whatever may have been said or written during
16 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
those fateful days and even afterwards, it is certain that
Charles Albert was affiliated to no secret society, and
that in the beginning of 1821 he was ignorant of the plot
hatched by the Carbonarz, the nobility, and the Pied-
montese officers. He declared it by word of mouth and
in writing at various times, and the few around him who
were not sectarians always said so, and have left it on
record in letters which still exist.
I was then too young to understand what was going
on, but some years later, when I got my epaulettes and
left the Academy, it was still the subject of conversation.
Charles Felix was then king and omnipotent, so most of
the nobility naturally adopted the ideas of the Court, who
looked upon the Prince of Carignano as a traitor to the
Royal House. At the same time, he was decried as a
traitor by some of the Liberal party. It was believed, or
at least generally said, that he belonged to the Carbonari
and had plotted with them in favour of a constitutional
revolution ; but becoming alarmed lest instead of helping
him to a larger kingdom his companions might prevent —
his ever ascending the throne of his uncles, he had forsaken
and betrayed them. In short, the poor prince was accused
and abused by everyone, and even after he became king
many still believed in his guilt. Only when the archives
and documents of that time, as well as his own letters
and those of his contemporaries were published, was light
thrown on the events which I shall try to explain.
It was in the beginning of March that the prince first
had cognisance of the revolutionary movement, and was
surprised to discover that nearly all his artillery officers
were in the conspiracy. To his astonishment, one morning
Count di Collegno one of his equerries, introduced Counts
Santa Rosa and Lisio and the Marquis di Caraglio into
his study. They were, together with Collegno, the leaders
of the movement, and came in the name of the Constitu-
REVOLUTION 17
tional party to beg the prince to place himself at their
head, and plead their cause with the King Victor Emanuel.
Horror-stricken, Charles Albert remained dumb. It had
never crossed his mind that the liberal sentiments he so
frankly avowed to those about him could have led to his
being chosen as the leader of a revolutionary political
party. On recovering from his surprise he rejected their
propositions, but probably not with the energy he ought
to have shown, and dismissed the conspirators. They only
wanted a figurehead, not a leader, and knew that the young
prince lacked the decided character, the intuition, and the
vast ambition of a Bonaparte. They hoped to compromise
him—to seduce him with the idea of an enlarged and in-
dependent kingdom of which he was to be the founder.
Taken unawares, and naturally irresolute and undecided,
Charles Albert found himself in cruel perplexity—he must
either be a traitor to the king who had been kind to him
and laden him with benefits, or betray men who were
his friends and had confided their secret to him. He
chose the worst thing—a middle course. He tried to per-
suade the officers that their duty lay in fidelity towards
. their sovereign, and that their demonstrations were in-
opportune and dangerous, while he warned the king to be
on his guard, and to take precautions against possible
disorders. Whether, fearing to compromise some of his
friends, he spoke too vaguely, I know not; anyhow, the
king failed to grasp the situation and did nothing, while
the revolution gained ground.
The Prince of Carignano spoke more openly to Saluzzo,
the Minister of War, who was dismayed, but took no
measures to forestall the revolution which broke out in
Turin on the 8th of March. A cannon shot from the
citadel was the signal which roused the whole population.
The king, who had gone to Moncalieri the day before,
immediately returned, and on the 1oth he was presented
B
18 - AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
with a pronunciamento, Spanish fashion, by the garrison of
Alessandria, followed by those of Vercelli, Pinerolo, etc.
At first Victor Emanuel declared that he would not
cede to violence, but when he understood that the revolu-
tion was spreading and civil war would be the result, he
hesitated. A council was summoned, consisting of the
ministers, their predecessors, several leading men such as
Balbo, Vallesa, the Marquis Brignole, and the generals in
command. Several of the latter declared that they would
not answer for their men. A few of the councillors were in
favour of granting concessions and reform, but the majority
advised resistance. All those of the Liberal party who -
could obtain access to the Prince of Carignano were urging
him to use his influence with the king and persuade him
to grant a constitution. Among them were Vallesa,
Saluzzo and Balbo. The prince declined to interfere unless
called before the council and assured of the active support
of the two last-named gentlemen. Summoned by the king,
who asked his opinion, Charles Albert, strongly backed
by Balbo and Vallesa, advised granting concessions, to
which Saluzzo and Brignole assented, but all the others
voted against them.
Meanwhile the revolution was spreading. Many of the
troops quartered in and near the capital deserted and
joined the garrison of Alessandria. The king, gradually
becoming convinced of the aspirations of the majority of
his subjects, was on’ the point of granting a constitution,
when the Marquis of San Marzano! arrived from the Con-
sress of Laibach,? to which he had been sent as minister
plenipotentiary the year before. He declared that, in
obedience to his instructions, he had assured the repre-
1 Father of the Marquis of Caraglio, one of the heads of the Revolutionary
party.
2 Called at the instigation of Austria to arrange with the other great powers
the right of intervention in countries which had risen in rebellion.
ABDICATION OF VICTOR EMANUEL I. 19
sentatives of the other powers that the King of Sardinia
would never grant a constitution or make any change in
the treaties and conventions of 1815. On hearing this,
Victor Emanuel I. resolved to abdicate, and as his brother,
Charles Felix, was at Modena to receive the King of
Naples on his return from Laibach, he named the Prince
of Carignano regent. Charles Albert at first refused, but
on the representations of the ministers and servants of the
crown present at the ceremony of abdication, he reluctantly
accepted. The prince was deeply moved by the farewell
words addressed by the king to him and to his faithful
servants, and hardly less at Maria Theresa’s cutting, but
hardly undeserved, remarks to the ministers of war and
public security,! who had allowed things to come to such
a pass. Among those present at the leave-taking was my
father, and he often told us that, on leaving, the king ex-
claimed, ‘J’emporte avec moi le regret d’avoir inutilement
travaillé au bonheur de mon peuple.’
Victor Emanuel I. left for Nice during the night of the
12th March, escorted by the whole light cavalry regiment
Savoia, mounted on excellent little Sardinian horses. In
spite of the entreaties of the king they accompanied him
to Racconigi, where they took leave, and went to join the
royal army under General La Tour at Novara.
Many people thought that in naming Charles Albert
regent, the king meant to give a tacit assent to the pro-
mulgation of the Constitution. It was like saying, You
are free, 1 am not; do what you think best for the people
and the monarchy. Unfortunately the young prince was
inexpert, hampered by countless ties and duties, and had
no man of strong character and intellect near him. He
was overwhelmed by the revolution and became its martyr.
On the departure of the king all the ministers resigned,
1The queen’s last words to Count Lodi were, ‘Nous vous avons payé bien
cher, monsieur, pour une police que vous faisiez bien mal.’—Zvans/lator’s Note.
20 AUTOBIOGRAPAY OF A VETERAN
and their places were difficult to fill. ~The regent met either
with a decided refusal or an acceptance negatived by im-
possible conditions. Meanwhile the revolutionary wave
surged higher and higher. For want of sentinels who had
abandoned their posts, or through the treachery of servants,
the Carignano Palace was invaded by a mob, which declined
to leave, and the prince was interrogated and advised by
men unknown to him. When summoned to his assistance
the Monarchists either turned a deaf ear or advised the
proper course—the only one which Charles Albert could
not bring himself to adopt—an immediate order to the
troops who were still faithful to clear the streets. The
soldiers in the citadel had exchanged their blue! cockades
for tricolour ones, and some of the commanding officers
threatened to fire on the town unless the Constitution was
proclaimed. Under these circumstances, a prince of only
twenty-three, with Liberal tendencies, and surrounded by
Revolutionists, can hardly be blamed for conditionally
signing the Constitution, pending ratification by the new
sovereign. Couriers were immediately sent off to Modena
with detailed accounts of the situation, and a request for
explicit orders.
The answer was an order to go immediately to
Novara and join Field-Marshal Baron La Tour, command-
ing that part of the army which was still faithful to the
king. Charles Albert left Turin at nightfall, running
the danger of being murdered by Revolutionary assassins,
who called him cowardly, vile and treacherous. When he
reached Novara, the field-marshal handed him a letter
from the king, ordering him to go to Florence with his
family. The prince went to Modena to see King Charles
Felix, who refused to receive him, and, heart-broken,
Charles Albert went into exile.
During the riots in Piazza Castello on the 12th March,
1 The colour of the House of Savoy.—Zvanslator’s Note.
WE BOYS RUN AWAY TO FIGHT 21
we boys were assembled in the chapel of the Academy at
a funeral service in memory of our late governor, General
Robilant. We understood that something was going on,
but against whom, or for whom, there was fighting, we only
learnt by degrees. A portion of the garrison of Turin and
the suburbs had joined the Constitutionalists at Aless-
andria, so our governor, Chevalier Cesare di Saluzzo,
mindful of what had happened in a Spanish town on the
rebellion of the garrison,’ marched us all off to the large
buildings adjoining the church on the Superga Hill.
Shouldering their guns, the older pupils were placed as
sentinels at every door, while the youngest amused them-
selves in the big room. The others, I among them, con-
spired—we wanted to join the army! One of our servants
had just left to join his regiment at Alessandria, saying he
was going to fight the Austrians. Fight the Austrians!
Those three words fired our heads and legs, and we deter-
mined to run away into the woods, taking with us our
silver spoons, forks and mugs to sell, and thus pay for our
journey. Nosoonersaidthandone. Silently we slid down
a steep slope through the wood towards the river. But
our flight had been discovered and our older companions
were sent in pursuit. They ran faster than we did and
soon caught us, and with kicks and cuffs brought us back
humiliated. On the 8th April the Constitutionalists were
beaten at Novara by Marshal La Tour, aided by the
Austrians, and their leaders fled to Switzerland and other
countries, while the soldiers dispersed to their homes. The
Austrians occupied Alessandria and Vercelli, and the gover-
nor of Turin, Count Thaon di Revel, named regent by the
new king, Charles Felix, soon reduced the town to order.
Charles Felix prudently remained at Modena until
October. Charles Albert, in disgrace, was exiled to Flor-
1 The rebels seized all the pupils in a college for youths of good family, and
held them as hostages.
22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
ence, and Victor Emanuel I. was staying at Nice. On
receiving news of the battle of Novara, Count Hannibal
Saluzzo, commander of the garrison of Nice, went to
inform his old king, who immediately exclaimed, ‘ Alas!
My brave Piedmontese, they gave it to those cursed ©
Austrians, did not they?’ His grief was terrible on hear-
ing that they had, on the contrary, been beaten. The good
king hated Austria bitterly, to whom he attributed, far more
than to France,the misfortunes of his country. Saluzzoseized
the opportunity to urge Victor Emanuel to return to Turin,
escorted by his regiment, assuring him that the whole army
would at once rally round him. But the king refused.
Towards the end of 1821 Charles Felix returned to
Turin, where everything was quiet owing to the vicinity of
the Austrians. Called into Piedmont by Marshal La Tour
in obedience to the king’s orders, the latter found it no
easy matter to get rid of them. ‘Diplomacy moves so
slowly. The Austrians are like pitch, which sticks if you
touch it,’ said the king. At least so it was reported. Two-
thirds of the Austrian troops were withdrawn a year later,
after the Congress of Vienna, but the last four or five
thousand men only left Piedmont at the end of 1823.
Charles Felix was one of the few of his race who had
no military tastes; but after ascending the throne he
always wore a general’s uniform. Intensely autocratic, he
firmly believed in the divine right of kings, and exacted
the greatest deference, not only to the crown, but to all
belonging to it. He once placed a staff officer who repri-
manded a servant of the palace under arrest for disrespect to
the royal livery. Otherwise he was simple, almost infantine,
in his tastes and habits. The theatre was his favourite
amusement, and he went there nearly every night.
Very different was Victor Emanuel I., who loved his
soldiers. The presence of the Austrians at Alessandria
and Vercelli was a bitter grief to him, and he regretted his
CHARLES ALBERT IN SPAIN 23
beloved Turin. He had taken up his residence at Mon-
calieri,| and often drove or rode to the gates of the capital.
There he would stop, gaze at the old walls, the green
bastions, the Po and the Valentino Palace, and then slowly
and sadly return to Moncalieri. He never approached the
royal palace, not even to visit his brother. ,
From the spring of 1821 until that of 1823 the Prince
of Carignano was an exile in Tuscany. No prayers or
promises could move Charles Felix to recall him. When,
in 1823, King Louis XVIII. of France sent his nephew
and heir-presumptive, the Duc d’Angouléme, with an army
into Spain to help Ferdinand VII. to put down the Con-
stitutional Revolution, Charles Albert asked leave to join
him. On the one hand, the prince wished to show his
gratitude to Louis X VIII., who had pleaded for him with
Charles Felix ; on the other, his dislike, after the events of
1821, of constitutions and Constitutionalists, the cause of
so much sorrow and trouble to him. After some months’
delay, Charles Felix gave the desired permission, and the
prince embarked at Leghorn for Marseilles with his equerries
Robilant and Costa, and Isasco, officer of the staff. He
arrived in time to take part in the campaign, and we all
know how he distinguished himself at the Trocadero.? All
1 Four miles south of Turin.—7Zyamnslator’s Note.
2 The Trocadero, on the Isle of Leon, near Cadiz, was stormed by the
French on the night of the 31st August 1823. The Prince of Carignano, dis-
regarding the entreaties of his attendants and the orders of the French general
Obert, was one of the first to throw himself into the canal and wade across up
to his neck in the water. Seizing the colours of a regiment of grenadiers, he
led them against the enemy’s batteries. The gunners were killed at the point
of the bayonet, as the cartouches of the attacking party had been spoiled by
water. Seeing some of the enemy escaping in boats, the prince himself
laid and fired two of their guns, and sank one of the boats. Next day
the Duc d’Angouléme decorated him with his own Cross of St Louis, and
—a far higher honour—a deputation of the grenadiers begged his acceptance of
the epaulettes of one of their regiment who had fallen in the attack, saying he
was so brave that he was worthy of filling the place of their dead comrade.—
Translators Note.
24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
through life he was as courageous and prompt on the battle-
field as he was timid and irresolute in politics. The Duc
d’Angouléme invited him to Paris, where for a winter he
was the idol of society, and Louis XVIII. lost no oppor-
tunity of recommending him to Charles Felix.
After the death of Victor Emanuel I. in January 1824,
Charles Albert received permission to return to Florence
by way of Turin, and to pay his respects to the king. He
was, however, ordered to enter the capital at nightfall, and
the king only received him late the next evening, fearing lest
his presence at the palace might attract a crowd. Charles
Albert told me afterwards that his uncle let him understand
that he knew the prince had urged Victor Emanuel I. to
resume the crown, and that the preference he had always
shown for the late king had annoyed him. But, on the
whole, the interview was satisfactory, and shortly after-
wards the Prince of Carignano was recalled to Turin with
his family.
He was handsomer than ever, but had lost his 67zo and
gaiety and love of fun; he spoke little, never raised his
eyes, and appeared nervous and timid. In reality he was
suspicious of everything and everybody. The events of
1821 and their consequences, and the diffidence the king
always showed him, had taught him only too well how
dangerous it is for a prince to be carried away by his first
impressions, or to confide his thoughts to those around
him. I was constantly with him afterwards, and do not
think he ever opened his mind to, or felt any affection
or tenderness for, anyone, save perhaps for the very
few women who gained his heart and knew how to
keep it.
Before leaving the subject of the Academy for ever, I
must mention those among my companions whose names
became celebrated in war and politics—Alphonse La Mar-
mora, Camillo di Cavour, and Cavalli.
MY COMPANIONS AT THE ACADEMY 25
My cousin, La Marmora, was three years my senior ;
audacious, enterprising, and intelligent, he was addicted to
laying down the law to his companions. He was far from
studious, so his mother, dissatisfied with the small amount
he had learned at the Academy, obliged him to study seri-
ously after he left. He travelled and read much and gained
by experience, but none could have foretold what a high
position he was destined to occupy. Very different was
Camillo di Cavour. When as a small boy he joined the
college in 1820, he showed most uncommon acuteness and
intelligence. Endowed with a wonderful memory, he was
a prodigious reader, particularly of political and historical
works, and he had a passion for mathematics. The events
of 1821 had a strong effect on him, and he wanted to
follow and know the conditions of Piedmont and of other
countries. So he induced his elder brother Gustavus to come
into the parlour at the Academy, which was always empty
during play hours, and from behind the thick grating which
separated the pupils from visitors he listened to the news-
papers his brother read aloud. Habitually studious he was
not, but during some weeks before the examinations he
worked double tides, and always came out first. Cavalli,
celebrated as the inventor of the rifled cannon called after
him, even as a boy was always studying mechanics. His
only amusement consisted in making models in wood,
iron, or anything he could get hold of, to demonstrate
his ideas for the improvement of implements of war.
Shortly after leaving the Academy he invented the high-
wheeled gun-carriage, which was, I think, first adopted
in the Camp of Instruction instituted by Charles Albert
in 1833.
In 1825 I left the Academy with the rank of lieutenant,
and began my service as officer of the staff. My three
elder brothers were already in the army, the three younger
I left behind me in the Academy.
CHAPTER ITI
1825-1840
The Staff—General Paolucci—Death of King Charles Felix—Accession o
Charles Albert—His Character—Life at Racconigi—Young Italy—
My Journey to Sardinia—Bear Hunting with Duke of Savoy.
THE staff, which I entered towards the end of 1825, was
very different from what it is now. At the Restoration,
when Victor Emanuel I. reorganised the Piedmontese
army, he left the staff very much as it had been before
the Revolution. The officers were considered more as
topographical engineers than as part of the army, and civil
engineers often shared in their work, and after some years
obtained permission to enter the corps. Charles Albert
altered all this in 1831; civil engineers were no longer
admitted, the number of officers was increased, and some
of them were put either to active or to office work under
commanders of the military divisions.
My brother Casimir was named aide-de-camp to General
Paolucci, a Modenese who for many years had been in the
service of the Czar. Owing to the menacing attitude ot
France, Charles Felix had invited him to come from
Russia to reform, or rather reconstitute, the army. His
reputation stood high after a brilliant campaign in the
Caucasus, in consequence of which the Czar named him
Governor of Livonia and Courland, but he did not possess
the military talent Charles Felix attributed to him. I
believe the principal, if not the only, reform he made in
our army was the introduction of a huge bunch of white
26
DEATH OF CHARLES FELIX A 304
feathers on the hats of the generals, still called a Paoluccz.
Fortunately France left us in peace, so the idea of recon-
stituting the army was abandoned. Paolucci was made
Governor of Genoa, with a large stipend, by Charles Albert
when he became king, out of gratitude for his services in
advocating the prince’s cause with the Czar in 1821-22.
He held this post till 1848, but how or when he died I do
not remember; as happens to us old soldiers when we
leave the army, he vanished in silence and oblivion.
In the beginning of 1831 Princess Marianne, niece of
King Charles Felix and one of the twin daughters of Victor
Emanuel I., married the Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the
Austrian throne. The King, with all the Court, accom-
panied the bride to Milan, and on the homeward journey
His Majesty fell ill, after drinking, it was said, a lemonade
at Novara. , On reaching Turin he got worse, and never left
his bed again. The Queen, Maria Christine of Naples,
was named regent, so as I had just been promoted to be .
a captain, my commission bears her signature.
On the 27th April 1831 Charles Felix died, and was
quietly succeeded by Charles Albert of Carignano.. Re-
volutionary ideas had calmed down, men’s minds were
quieter, and several of the Monarchists, trusting in the
experience of a man of thirty-three, who lacked neither
intelligence nor culture, hoped for a pacific and wise reign.
Many, however, of every party felt the same suspicion of
Charles Albert that the late king had always shown. The
extreme Monarchists accused him of Liberalism, with them
a synonym of Jacobinism; they never forgave him for
granting the Constitution in 1821. The ultra-Liberals, in
the minority:in Piedmont, but numerous in other parts of
Italy, regarded him as a Carbonaro who had betrayed
his brethren. This general and unmerited distrust which
Charles Albert was powerless to dispel or combat, all the
necessary documents being buried in the State archives
28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
whence they were only disinterred fifty years later,1 was
the perpetual sorrow and torment of his life—a torment
which caused him to appear false and hesitating, and made
his conduct incomprehensible to those about him who did
not possess the key to the enigma. I saw and heard many
examples of such apparently astounding duplicity that, in
spite of myself, my affection for Charles Albert was shaken.
He still cherished the liberal ideas of his youth, and had
inherited the ambition of the House of Savoy, but at the
same time was so steeped in mysticism that he conceived —
himself to be destined by God to achieve the redemption
of Italy on the condition of becoming a sacrifice. Tied by
promises and pledges given before he came to the throne,
he would not break them while the various persons con-
cerned lived, or until he received some manifestation of
the Divine will, which he fully expected and in which he
devoutly believed. His ambiguous and tentative manners
were a blind to deceive the world as to his real thoughts
and intentions.
In the beginning of 1833 my aunt, the Marchioness
Christina d’Azeglio, who had been in Florence during the
exile of Charles Albert and often received him in her
house, wrote to beg him to give her nephew, who had been
one of his pages, a place at his Court. The king, who
never forgot old friends, at once named me one of his
second equerries.
I entered on my service in May at Racconigi, the
favourite summer residence of the king. He was an early
riser, and at half-past five we were on horseback. On our
return we breakfasted in our rooms, and then attended
mass with the royal family, after which the king retired
1 N. Bianchi proved by documents from the State archives that there was
no foundation for the accusations of treachery and duplicity in the prince’s
conduct in 1821. My relation is founded on those documents, and not on the
common belief which prevailed in my youth and for many subsequent years.
LEADERS OF ‘YOUNG ITALY’ 29
to his study until luncheon time. In the evening the
queen called two of us to play whist with her and one of
her ladies; the others played billiards with His Majesty,
or read. The pleasantest time was after the queen, with
her ladies and gentlemen-in-waiting, had retired, and we
equerries, with the aide-de-camp and any favoured guest,
remained alone with the king. Sitting on the edge of the
billiard table, and swinging his long legs, he would talk
of the present and the past, recount his travels, and tell
us about the war in Spain and the people he had met,
mimicking their voice and manner to perfection.
1833 and 1834 were sad years for our small country.
A new secret society, ‘Young Italy,’ an offshoot of the
Carbonari, took up the idea of a united and independent
Italy. Since the French Revolution, or rather the vic-
torious progress of Bonaparte through the Peninsula, this
had filled many an Italian heart, but the general wish
was to effect the change gradually, and rather in a Mon-
archical than in a Republican sense. Joseph Mazzini, a
Genoese, was the founder; Orsini, Ruffini, Gallenga,
Cattaneo, and Vochieri, were the leaders of the new sect;
and, with the inconsiderate and rampant imprudence
characteristic of Republican youth, they thought to stir
Italy into rebellion with three or four hundred followers,
and without money or soldiers. Mazzini, however, under-
stood the necessity of having an army and a Prince with
him. Abandoning his Republican ideas, he wrote his
famous letter to Charles Albert, inviting him to follow in
his footsteps and become the liberator of Italy, declaring
that he had twenty millions of men ready to follow the
Italian flag.
The king, who had good reason to doubt the existence
of those twenty millions of men and did not wish to offend
Austria who was jealously watching him, turned a deaf ear.
Sad experience had taught him prudence, and how little
30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
secret societies and revolutionists were to be relied on.
He was determined to be independent of sects or parties,
to do nothing hastily, but gradually to create an army
capable of resisting the attack of an enemy. Driven out
of France, the Mazzinians had taken refuge in Switzer-
land, whence they attempted to stir up disorders in Savoy.
A paper, called Young Italy after the society, was widely
distributed, particularly in the army. The contagion
spread from Chambéry to Alessandria, and thence to
Turin, and the king was made seriously uneasy by the
reports of the military authorities. A special commission
was named to search for the culprits, and a court of judges
at Turin, with the Count di Cimier (or Cimella) of Nice as
president. He exaggerated in everything, in accusations,
in judging, in punishing, and was cruel and unjust. A
copy of Young Italy found in a soldier’s knapsack or in
a house sufficed to send a man to prison, and more than
one was shot or guillotined. Many arrests were made in
Savoy, in Alessandria, and in Genoa among the aristo-
cracy ; most of the latter were absolved after some weeks
of imprisonment, save V. Gioberti, who was exiled.. Several
soldiers were condemned to death, others to the galleys
or to long terms of imprisonment, by the military tribunal.
The rewards bestowed on the judges who had shown the
greatest severity produced a painful impression; people
looked grave and sad, and even at Court there were
whispered lamentations as to the course of events. When
the first arrests in April were known the members of
‘Young Italy’ fled from Piedmont, and order was apparently
re-established, but men’s minds were uneasy. I was on
duty at Racconigi at that time, and after receiving
despatches from Turin the king grew sombre and taciturn.
No one spoke during our morning rides; we were all
enveloped in the black cloud of melancholy which
oppressed Charles Albert.
FLIGHT OF THE MAZZINIANS 31
In 1834 the Mazzinians, trusting to the assurances of
a few Savoyards that the troops would flock to the tri-
colour flag, entered Savoy in two divisions, one led by
Ramorino, the other by Antonini, who had served in the
Polish army. Disappointed by their cold reception, and
hearing that the Sardinian troops were advancing, the
rabble dispersed and returned to France or Switzerland,
Mazzini among the first. A few military executions,
necessary for the maintenance of discipline, took place
at Chambéry, but the stern court of justice of the pre-
ceding year having been dissolved, the sentences of death
passed on the leaders were only promulgated after they
had left the country. Among these was Garibaldi, a
master mariner of the third class. For some years there
was comparative quiet, but during his whole reign Charles
Albert was tormented by the threats of the Mazzinian
Society on one hand and the Society of Jesus on the
other—the first trying to lure him with the promise of a
kingdom on earth, the second with one in heaven.
In the spring of 1835 my brother-in-law, Count of
Bernezzo, general in command of the division of Cagliari,
died, and my sister Louisa wrote to beg me to come to
Sardinia to accompany her and her small children back to
Piedmont. A journey to Sardinia in those days was a
serious affair. There were no railways, no steamboats, no
telegraphs. The post-boat went once a month, and took
from three to fifteen days, according to the wind. The
boat had left before I got my sister’s letter, so not to lose
time I embarked at Genoa on a small mercantile ship
about twenty metres long. The weather was bad and the
wind contrary, and for twelve days I lay tied to the mast
on a rug by the side of the beautiful Countess Rignon, who
was going with her brother, the Marquis of Boyl, to
Sardinia. I never saw or spoke to her, for we were
both frightfully ill. The sea was so rough that we had
32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
to put in at the island of Asinara, where we passed the
night in a shepherd’s hut, and next day crossed over to
Sassari. A wretched diligence was the only mode of
transport from Sassari to Cagliari, so I thankfully ac-
cepted the offer of General Crotti to procure me a horse
and give me one of the ‘31’ as a guide. The ‘31’ was
a society charged with the postal service, and took its
name from the number of its members. There was a
postman for every day in the month, and as soon as
the post-boat was signalled, the man whose number coin-
cided with the day saddled his horse, threw the big
saddlebags across his flanks, and went to receive the
letters which he distributed at the different post-offices
along the road. I took two days and a half to traverse
Sardinia, sleeping one night at Macomer in the house of
a rich proprietor, and the second in a village, the name
of which I forget. As was the custom then I begged
hospitality for the night at the house of the principal
man of the place. But finding the whole family lived in
one room with various domestic animals I preferred to
roll myself in my cloak and sleep outside.
Prisoners condemned to forced labour were in those
days transported to Sardinia and employed in gangs on
the estates of the great landowners, or permitted to take
service in shops or private families. My brother-in-law
had taken a frank, honest, good-tempered young fellow as
cook and servant, who had been a shop-boy at Stresa on
the Lago Maggiore, and was condemned as a domestic thief
for stealing twelve francs. ‘They did quite right to punish
me,’ he used to say. ‘I was a mere boy, and stole a trifle;
who knows what a scoundrel I might have become if I had
not been found out?’
My sister was so anxious to obtain his release and
send him back to Stresa, that I wrote to the king, who
pardoned him, and most graciously sent a corvette to take
SARDINIA IN 1835 33
us back to Genoa. With us sailed my brother Emanuel,
who had served three years in Sardinia and married there.
His wife was of noble family, pretty and nice, but, like all
Sardinians, full of prejudice and superstition. During the
voyage I observed that she was always chewing pieces of
paper with writing on them, which she took out of a small
box. These were sentences out of the New Testament,
and verses from the Psalms, which her aunt had written
out for her as a sure preventive against sea sickness. The
more sick she was the more paper she swallowed, so at
last, after vainly trying to persuade her to stop, I took
advantage of a bad bout of sickness and threw the box
into the sea, which made her very angry.
In 1838 I accompanied the young Duke of Savoy to
the Monte della Moriana, where a bear had been seen.
We drove to S. Michele, and climbed to the top of Mon-
tembrun on foot, while the beaters drove the forest. But
in vain; the bear had already escaped into the valley on
the other side, and the king having fixed the day and
hour of our return to Turin we were forced to abandon
our bear-hunt. Charles Albert was already beginning to
show the tenacity and inflexibility of character which led
to more than one disaster in 1848.
CHAPTH ER DV:
1840-1841
Rumours of War—My Secret Mission to France—Am named First Equerry
to Duke of Savoy—His Shooting Parties—His Dislike of La Marmora
—His Marriage.
RUMOURS of wars were rife in the spring of 1840. Russia
and Prussia, together with England and Austria, were
united to uphold the rights of Sultan Mahmoud in Syria
against his vassal, Mahomet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt. The
latter had received encouragement, if not actual aid, from
France, who, with one of those poetical ideas which ought
to be banished from politics, remembered her Egyptian
successes in 1798, and favoured Mahomet Ali in his
struggle against the Sultan. Offended at her exclusion
from the quadruple alliance, she revived the idea of forti-
fying Paris, and there were rumours of armaments on our
frontier which alarmed the king and ministers.
One September morning I was summoned by Charles
Albert, who, under a promise of secrecy—religiously kept
by me for many years—said he wished, independently of
his ministers, to know the truth, and desired me to obtain
information. As a simple tourist I was to go to Savoy,
and thence to Dauphiné and Lyons. I applied for leave,
and the king gave me a passport in which my military
status was not mentioned. Charles Albert bade me be
34
DISGUISED AS A BOTANIST 35
careful, as in case I was arrested by the French authorities,
he would disown me.
Fully resolved not to be caught, I provided myself with
a botanist’s vasculum, and went to Chambéry, where I
established my headquarters. I knew all the country
round, and, with my collecting-box over my shoulder,
crossed and recrossed the frontier several times without
molestation. Gathering plants one hot morning under the
walls of the fort of Barau, I saw a veteran watching me
from the glacis, and hailed him. Approaching nearer, I
asked him ‘whether there was any spring near by, as I was
thirsty. :
‘I know nothing about water,’ he answered. ‘My only
drink is good wine, and if you'll come up I'll give youa
glass,’
I did not wait to be asked twice. After drinking, I
offered him a cigar, and strolled on to the parapets prais-
ing the view. Chatting and smoking we walked about
and I saw all I wished. There had been no fresh move-
ment of troops, so the veteran and his companions had no
reason for suspicion.
At Grenoble I entered a tobacconist’s shop, and thought
I knew the handsome woman who stood behind the counter.
She recognised me at once, and began talking in Pied-
montese dialect. I stopped her with a glance, and, as
soon as we were alone, told her not to talk Piedmontese,
and above all, not to call me captain, as being absent
without regular leave, I might get into trouble.
She had lived in Turin for some years with a cousin of
mine, by whom she had a child, which was in the foundling
hospital, and which she wished to claim. I promised to
help her as soon as IJ returned to Turin, and, through my
uncle who was director of the hospital, was able to do so.
A handsome and taking woman she was in great
favour with the prefect, and procured me permission to
36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
visit the heights, which were fortified. At Gap I gleaned
much information from the officers of the garrison, who
dined at my inn; but at Briancon, which was full of
troops, incessant rain prevented me from herborising, and
I soon found myself an object of suspicion. The gendarmes
came to my room, examined my passport and my port-
manteau, which only contained linen and a notebook with
washing bills, and lists of plants, arranged as a cypher to
remind me of the news I had collected. The police were
nonplussed; but that afternoon I saw others arrive, and
determined to leave.
On reaching Turin I reported myself to the king, and
was surprised to find Charles Albert gay and bright as in
former years, before 1833-1834 had set such an indelible
stamp of melancholy on him. The change was due to
the visit his intelligent, lively, and beautiful sister, Maria
Elizabeth, the Vice-Queen of Lombardy, had paid him
with all her family. The king was pleased with the way
I had fulfilled his instructions, and promised to name
me one of the first equerries to the Duke of Savoy,
just engaged to the Archduchess Maria Adelaide, second
daughter of the vice-queen.
During the winter of 1840-41 I was continually in
attendance on the young duke, but in the spring I
was ordered on ordnance service in the Alps, where I
nearly lost my life. Soon after my return I accompanied
the Duke to Genoa, and for twenty-five years, with the
exception of two journeys in 1843 and 1849, I saw Victor
Emanuel nearly every day. Whether he knew me better,
or that my frank, open character pleased him more than
the usual ways of courtiers, or that, though not sharing his
vehement passion for all physical exercises, I liked open-
air life and was an excellent walker, I know not, but even
when not on duty I was always called. I could ride all
day long, or walk for ten or twelve consecutive hours, with-
LA MARMORA LAYS DOWN THE LAW 37
out feeling anything but a tremendous appetite, and, like
the duke, I cared more for quantity than for quality in
my food. One or other of the officers of the Court or
their sons were invited to his shooting parties, and among
these at first was Alphonse La Marmora, equerry to the
Duke of Genoa. But his authoritative, rather overbearing
manner soon annoyed Victor Emanuel, who had plenty
of good sense, and accepted advice when given unpreten-
tiously and at the proper time. La Marmora with the
duke, as with us all, posed as a professor, and wanted to
lay down the law. At the slightest opposition he was
ready to exclaim, like an old uncle of mine, ‘ / eu viaggia
é lett?+ He had read and travelled much more than other
officers, but he took care everyone should know it, and
Victor Emanuel, who never imposed his high rank,
although fully conscious of it, disliked these airs of
superiority, often asserted with considerable brusqueness.
I was also sometimes rather brusque with my young
prince, and held to my own opinion, but only when he did
something I knew his father would not like, so he took it
good-humouredly, laughed, and said, ‘Za, /a ch’as calma,
chas calma. Un autra volta t fareu coum a veul chiel??
With La Marmora, on the contrary, he got angry, answered
curtly, and gradually ceased to invite him. His place was
filled by the son of General Scati, a college friend of mine.
Scati was as bad a shot as myself, and one day Victor
Emanuel, with a keeper, distanced us, and climbed the
ridge of a mountain, shooting blackcock as he went. As
the birds could not be found, he thought he had missed
them, and was much put out. They had fallen close to
us, So we picked them up, and when we joined him said
nothing. The duke, who was a capital shot, could, not
understand how we, so far below him and such inferior
1 ¢*J have travelled and read.’
2¢ There, there, be calm, be calm. Another time I’ll do as you wish.’
38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
shots, had made good bags. When we told him all the
birds were his, he was delighted, and ate them later with
redoubled zest.
Charles Albert never allowed his son to be absent more
than two or three days ; so to gain time he left Turin in the
night, particularly when we went to Casanova, near Poirino,
the Count of Robilant’s large property, the shooting over
which he reserved for the duke. One morning we were to
startatone. Carriages had been ordered, and I was to fetch
Victor Emanuel at the royal palace. With my gun over
my shoulder, I passed the sentry at a quarter to one, and
found the palace gate ajar without any porter. Entering
the great saloon of the Svzzzerz, I found several servants
stretched on mattresses fast asleep, and two policemen
snoring on a bench. At the top of the stairs leading to
the duke’s apartments I found two more servants asleep,
all the doors open, and the corridors illuminated. Without
any difficulty, and without being seen by anyone, I reached
his bedside. In a few minutes he was ready, and I took
the opportunity to tell him how, unseen and unchallenged;
with my gun on my shoulder, I had been able to reach
his room. ‘What I have done, others may do with
different motives, I said. ‘ Allow me to give orders that
the access to your room at night should be less easy.’
He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. ‘Who could
have any evil intentions against me? Pray don’t have
me put under lock and key.’
The marriage of Victor Emanuel with his cousin Maria
Adelaide took place on the 11th of April 1842, with great
pomp. Charles Albert excelled in organising magnificent
ceremonials, without throwing away money or making
debts. When he came to the throne, the public treasury
and the private patrimony of the House of Savoy were in
bad order, but by constant and wise economy he cleared
off all liabilities.
MARRIAGE OF VICTOR EMANUEL 39
After the marriage at the royal castle of Stupinigi,
the bride and bridegroom entered Turin with the same
ceremonial as had been used in 1817, only the State
carriage was different, and there were no pages on the
steps.
Marshall Radetsky, commander-in-chief of the troops
in Lombardy, accompanied the Italian royal family, and
was received by Charles Albert an hour after his arrival.
They little thought under what different circumstances
they would meet seven years later in the Lombard Quad-
rilateral and on the disastrous field of Novara. The king
treated the marshal with the greatest distinction, and on
the latter expressing his disappointment at not being able
to stay for the tournament that was to be held in Piazza
S. Carlo, a rehearsal was ordered for him in the royal
garden.
CHAPTER V
1842-1847
Maria Adelaide—Private Life of Victor Emanuel—My relations with Him
—Maria Elizabeth visits Her Brother, Charles Albert—His Melancholy
increases—His uncertain Policy—Election of Pope Pius [X.—Meeting
of Agrarian Society at Casale—Charles Albert grants Reforms—Birth
of Maria Pia of Savoy.
AFTER a month’s sojourn at Turin, the Vice-King and
Queen of Lombardy returned to Milan, and the Court
relapsed into the usual routine and stern discipline. The
sweet smile and angelic goodness of Maria Adelaide
softened and illumined, but brought no life or gaiety to
the palace, where all were awed by the presence of the
solemn and silent king. The Duchess of Savoy resembled
her mother in many things, but lacked the dzo and vivacity
which, like a trumpet blast, roused everyone who approached
the vice-queen, scattering melancholy and misanthropy to
the winds. Victor Emanuel loved his cousin from the
first time he saw her, and his affection was lasting. But
she failed to fill his life, devoid of all mental occupation,
as Charles Albert never allowed his son to participate in
affairs of State. The duke continued his bachelor habits,
and having more liberty after his marriage, was often
away on shooting excursions for days together. At Court,
Victor Emanuel was the heir to the throne, a loving hus-
band and a respectful son; but outside he gave full scope
40
PRIVATE LIFE OF VICTOR EMANUEL 41
to his natural instincts and tastes, and became a mousquetaire
of the seventeenth century. He dressed rather in that
style, and physically resembled Dumas’ heroes, but with-
out their vulgar manners and tastes. Though on familiar
terms with those about him, and neither proud nor haughty,
he was jealous of his personal dignity and position, and for
no man would he have lowered them. With women it was
different. It was sufficient for them to be young, pretty,
and not coy to gain his affections for the moment. But I
am perfectly convinced that among the large number—a
sort of magic lantern of pretty women of all grades of
society—not one ever really touched his heart. That
belonged entirely to Maria Adelaide. Absolute trust,
respectful and passionate admiration, and all his tenderest
feelings, were so entirely hers that none remained for
others, not even for the woman who for many years shared
his life far more than the duchess had ever done, who
bore him children, and at last became his morganatic
wife. Without pretending to be what he was not, Victor
Emanuel gave the best of himself to Maria Adelaide.
He had no secrets from her, though he did not tell her
everything, because the litany would have been long and
monotonous and unfit for her chaste ears. What she
knew she pardoned, and even justified—a miracle of
supreme indulgence and goodness not easy to understand,
save by those who, like myself, stood between the two
lives of the duke. The only person who had any right
1 In 1814 and 1815, when, as boys, we watched the soldiers exercising
on the bastions, the colossal drum-major was an object of great admiration.
When the band ceased playing he walked about, and sometimes smilingly
bent down and lifted a child up on to his broad shoulders. It was like being
on the top of a church tower, and we all admired and liked Vercellani.
Thirty years later, returning from Racconigi with the duke, in the suite of
Charles Albert, who had passed a regiment of the Grenadier Guards in review, I
recognised Vercellani on the balcony of a small house. By his side stood a
beautiful girl of about sixteen ; she was his daughter, the Je//a Rosina, the
future Countess of Mirafiore.
42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
to blame him abstained, wisely, I think, showing perfect
tact and an intimate knowledge of her husband’s exception-
ally ardent temperament. I always tried (without posing
as a mentor) to restrain him; the thirteen years’ difference
of age between us, and the affectionate familiarity with
which he treated me, allowed me to speak with frankness
and a certain authority. I must add that, although in
no way responsible for the actions of the duke, I soon
discovered that the royal family thought I had more
power over him than I possessed. I perceived this from
the bitter-sweet words of the queen, ‘ Mais Monsieur de la
Rocca, pourquoi n’avez vous donc pas ramené Victor plus
tot, if by chance we were five minutes late for lunch
or dinner in consequence of a horse falling or a carriage
breaking down. Charles Albert allowed no excuses, and
put his son under arrest, even when once he appeared
with his arm in a sling. I saw it also in the soft and
entreating eyes of the Duchess of Savoy when she said,
‘Monsieur de la Rocca, je vous en prie, ne laissez pas
passer Victor a cheval dans le torrent Sangone (when we
were at Stupinigi) dans la Polcevera (when we were at
Genoa) le courant pourrait l’emporter;’ and still more in
the angry glance the king cast at me before looking at
his son. So I did my utmost to prevent mishaps, and
gave stringent orders to the hunt and stablemen. As
to preventing the duke from fording rivers or jumping
dangerous places, I did my best; but like all high-spirited
young men, particularly princes who think it their duty to
have a double dose of courage, he was often imprudent,
and liked to show off. Gradually, however, I persuaded
him to be more careful, and he would say, ‘Za, z veud nen
ch’a sia cria an causa mia’ In the matter of morals it was
more difficult. He was profoundly sceptical as to the virtue
of women, and so many gave him good reason to doubt it
1¢There, I don’t wish you to be scolded on my account.’
MELANCHOLY OF CHARLES ALBERT 43
that reasoning with him was useless, facts were always in
his favour.
In the spring of 1843 I went with my friend, the
Marquis of Monforte, to Paris. Cavour was there, and
took us to dine at the fashionable restaurants, and intro-
duced us to the clubs. I remember one day, in the
Champs Elysées, he introduced us to Thiers, who was
going to take his daily riding lesson. He wanted to
become a good horseman in order to turn his military
studies to practical use in case France should be involved
in war. From Paris we went to Belgium, and thence to
London, where we parted from Cavour and returned home,
vid Holland, the Rhine and Switzerland.
In July 1845 the Austrian family of Lombardy came
to Piedmont for the last time, and the entertainments
given at Racconigi in their honour were even more splendid
than those of 1840. Afterwards people declared this to
be another proof of the double dealing and falseness of
Charles Albert, and that, determined to declare war on
Austria, he had tried to deceive her by the courtesy and
magnificence of his reception of the Emperor’s uncle and
his family. This was not the impression made on anyone
about the Court. Charles Albert was devotedly fond of
his sister, and delighted in her society. The presence of
Maria Elizabeth and the occupation of preparing amuse-
ments for her seemed, for the moment, to dull his bodily
and mental sufferings. The excitement of the /ézes, and
still more the presence of his beloved sister, brought the
last flush of happiness and gaiety to his pale face. Soon
after her departure his melancholy, favoured by physical
suffering and religious aceticism, increased. He grew
thinner and yellower, while doctor and confessor seemed
leagued together to encourage, instead of restraining, his
inclination to excessive austerity. The unhappiness and
restlessness of the king were patent to all, even bodily
44 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
pain could not triumph over his mental anguish. He
read the books of Gioberti and Balbo, and gave private
audiences to Massimo d’Azeglio, who, in his quality of
painter and poet, had traversed all central Italy and came
to inform Charles Albert of the rapid growth of the idea
of an independent and united nation, and of the general
conviction that the House of Savoy was the only possible
factor in the redemption of Italy.
About this time the king caused a medal to be struck,
a sphinx with lion’s paws throttling an eagle, and the
motto, /'atans mon astre, on one side (taken, they said, from
an old seal belonging to the Counts of Savoy), and heads
_ of Dante, Columbus, Galileo and Michelangelo on the
other. Charles Albert evidently felt the time was ap-
proaching when the condition of Italy might be improved.
He did not lack the enthusiasm which produces heroes
and martyrs, but he had no trust in the character and
moral force of the Italian people, and therefore did not
consider the time for appealing to arms had come. Above
all, the painful experience of former years had filled him
with such a horror of secret societies and Revolutionists,
that he declined to avail himself of aid that was daily
proferred.
The Republicans, the most numerous sect, were waiting
impatiently in Malta, Corfu, and Switzerland, for a pro-
pitious moment for stirring up revolution in Italy. They
had attempted it in 1844 in Calabria, and in the Romagna
in 1845, and failed. Aware of this, Charles Albert, while
wishing to take decided action against Austria at some
future time, was fearful of compromising himself in
advance. Hence he appeared undecided, wavering, and
even hypocritical, and by degrees the faith, esteem, and
love of those about him diminished, even of those who
for years had been his friends and faithful servants. They
were astounded to see him one day applauding the
AGITATION IN ITALY 45
words and acts of La Margherita, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, a clerical and a partisan of absolutism, while on
the next he listened approvingly to the Minister of War,
Villamarina, a reputed Liberal. Such uncertain conduct
aroused the suspicion of foreign powers, especially of
Austria, whose ill-humour, fanned by the reports of her
emissaries, vented itself in commercial reprisals. These
so angered Charles Albert as to cause great uneasiness
in the diplomatic body and corresponding hopes among
the Liberals. __
Meanwhile Pope Gregory XVI. died, and was succeeded
by Cardinal Mastei Ferretti, as Pius IX. He granted an
almost universal amnesty to the political prisoners of the
former reign, and was at once hailed as a Liberal Pope
and the arbitrator of a federated and constitutional Italy.
His real motive was simply an act of clemency towards
prisoners who had nearly served their time; but he was
driven farther than he intended by the acclamations and
ovations with which this concession was received. The
Italian people, possessed by the passionate desire of a
fusion between the Papacy and Liberal institutions, either
did not, or would not see this, and for two years were in
a state of feverish excitement, setting aside every thought
or deed that did not refer to the independence and liberty
of Italy.
The agitation in Piedmont increased daily. It was clear _
that the mystic and religious king was strongly attracted
towards the head of the Church, and sooner or later would
follow his example. In 1846 Charles Albert took the
decisive step of dismissing La Margherita. Notwith-
standing the marked coldness with which the king
had treated him, he clung to power as long as possible,
in order, as he said, to attenuate the consequences of the
Liberal tendencies of the sovereign, and to save monarchy
and country from the catastrophe which would inevitably
46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
follow the proclamation of a constitution. A few among
the old nobles shared his opinions, but nearly the whole
army, and the men of middle age about the Court, were as
keen for Liberal institutions as the younger generation.
In November 1846 the death of my dear father pre-
vented my accompanying the Court to Genoa. As soon
as the king left on his return to Turin, the Genoese
celebrated the centenary of the expulsion of the Austrians
with illuminations and singing patriotic songs. A few
years previously this would not have been allowed, but
the train was laid, and the spark from Rome soon set the
Sardinian realm ablaze. - Liberal ideas were in the air,
and the scientific congresses and agrarian societies con-
tributed largely to their diffusion.
Over two thousand scientific men attended the con-
gress at Genoa in 1846. Laurence Pareto was the president,
and the Marquis Brignole-Sale came from Paris, where he
was Sardinian ambassador, to do the honours of his fine
palace and magnificent galleries. In all the’ meetings,
patriotism, independence and liberty were more talked of
than science. The meeting of the Agrarian Society at
Casale in 1847 was so enthusiastically patriotic that the
president reported it to Turin as seditious. But the
private secretary of the king gave a different version, and
Charles Albert’s reply was read to the assembled members
amid frantic applause.!
When I remember what times those were, and that
this letter was read to men from divers Italian States, its
1 T give a few extracts from the king’s letter which has been printed in his
biographies :—
‘Mon TRES CHER DE CASTAGNETTO,— ... Votre lettre contient des
détails qui m’interessent infiniment. Si je vous écrivais au long, je ne pourrais
que vous répéter ce que je vous ai dit a Racconis 4 l’égard des sentiments et
des vues qu'il faut exprimer pour le présent et pour l’avenir. Ajoutez seule-
ment que si jamais Dieu nous faisait la grace de pouvoir entreprendre une
guerre d’indépendance, ce serait moi seul qui commanderai l’armée, résolu a
CHARLES ALBERT GRANTS REFORMS 47
very audacity convinces me that for years the king had
cherished the idea of liberating Italy from a foreign yoke.
I consider this was the first step taken towards actzon, the
independence of Italy ceased to be a dream, and hundreds,
nay thousands, were ready to aid in its realisation.
On the 30th October, Charles Albert granted reforms
which were hailed with gratitude and joy. A few days
later he left Turin for his usual visit to Genoa amid the
acclamations of the people, and on passing through Asti
the crowd round the carriage was so great that, only just
recovered from a serious illness, the king fainted. At
Alessandria, where he passed the night, and at Genoa the
enthusiasm was indescribable, save on one Sunday, when
a significative demonstration took place. On leaving the
palace to go to mass, the king was, as usual, cheered
vociferously, until the people saw that he was bound for
the church of the Jesuits, when all cheering ceased. A cold
and silent crowd awaited his exit, and cries of ‘Down with
the Jesuits!’ ‘Long live the National Guard!’ were heard.
Triumphal arches and addresses were prepared at
Turin for his return; but Charles Albert, who was very ill,
drove straight to the palace without even showing his face
at the carriage windows. After resting, he was able to
appear on the balcony and receive a fresh ovation from
the crowd.
It has been said the king traversed the city without
stopping to hear addresses, because he had been informed
that paid agents intended to raise the cries of ‘Down with
faire pour la cause guelphe ce que Schamil fait contre l’immense empire
TUSSE. » > -
‘, . . Les autrichiens ont donné un mémoire aux puissances pour chercher
4 faire croire qu’ils ont le droit pour eux, et ils ont déclaré qu’ils resteraient en
possession de Ferrare, et que d’autre part ils interviendraient dans le pays ou
ils le croiraient nécessaire pour le intérét... .
‘,.. Ah! le beau jour que celui ou nous pourrons jeter le cri de l’indé-
pendance nationale !
‘ Turin, Ze 2 Septembre 1847.
48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
Reform !’ and ‘Long live the Republic!’ But no one about
the Court ever heard of this or of the scene between him
and the queen before. their departure for Genoa, when she
is reported to have thrown herself at his feet, begging him
not to go for fear of being assassinated. This is abso-
lutely incredible to anyone who knew the queen. In the
latter years she only approached the king with fear and
trembling, without daring to speak.
In October 1847, Maria Pia, Princess of Savoy, was
born, who afterwards married the King of Portugal. Her
godfather was Pope Pius IX., who soon afterwards sent
the traditional golden rose to her mother the Duchess.
CHAPTER VI
1848
Genoese Deputation—Cavour as Editor of the 2Rzsorxgtmento—Duke of Savoy
disguised among the Mob—Baron La Tour—Charles Albert grants the
Constitution—Carnival Time in Turin—Revolution in Paris and Vienna,
the ‘ Five Days’ of Milan and the Rising in Venice—War is declared—
I am named Colonel and Chief of the Staff to Victor Emanuel — The
King takes Command of the Army—The Austrians retire towards the
Adige—An attempt to besiege Peschiera — Pastrengo — The Austrians
retreat on Verona—Battle of Santa Lucia—We retreat.
1848! These four figures call up a host of fervent desires,
hopes, anxieties, and joys, followed by cruel disillusions
and bitter sorrow. It is impossible for me, a spectator—
often an actor—in the great drama which even now, after
forty-five years, agitates my very heart, to speak with the
serenity of one who only knows the facts from books or
by hearsay. I fear being carried away; of being, perhaps,
even unjust in recounting what I have seen and heard.
Our misfortunes and sufferings have not been in vain; one
man was the victim and martyr, and we, the survivors,
have reaped the benefit. Still, time has not lessened the
indignation I felt against those who denied the valour of
the small Piedmontese army, and dared to call its leaders
traitors. If treachery there was, it existed among those
who promised so much, and, when the first enthusiasm
was over, did little or nothing.
In the beginning of January a Genoese deputation
came to Turin to consult with the heads of the Liberal
party and the leading newspaper editors. Among
the latter was Cavour. They intended respectfully to
demand the king to order the expulsion of the Jesuits,
D
50 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
and the institution of the National Guard. The members
were lodged at the Hotel d’Europe, exactly opposite the
royal palace, so their advent and the visits they received
from the recognised leaders of the Liberal party could not
be ignored. The king was, of course, informed of all that
passed, generally by men hostile to new ideas and to all
public and private demonstrations. Irritated and annoyed,
he refused to receive the deputation, alleging its illegality,
and sent orders, through the police, that it was to return
immediately to Genoa. On the 7th July the Genoese left,
but, under pretence of assisting at the Carnival festivities,
many provincial notabilities came to Turin. Everything
said in the small parliament of journalists, of which Cavour
was the leading spirit—and much that was not said—was
immediately repeated all over the town. The editor! of
the Rzsorgimento at once took a leading position and dis-
played extraordinary activity. Besides articles in his own
paper, he wrote reviews in French and Genoese magazines,
preparing the way for the redemption of Italy to be
accomplished by the Piedmontese and, above all, by him-
self. Then came tidings of the rebellion of Sicily against
her Neapolitan rulers, of violent demonstrations in Naples
itself, and of the change of ministry, followed, like a
thunder-clap, by the incredible news that the King of
Naples, the most autocratic of sovereigns, had granted the
Constitution. A few days later it was rumoured that his
example had been followed by Leopold II. of Tuscany.
The agitation in Piedmont increased. People no longer
demanded reforms—the expulsion of the Jesuits—the insti-
tution of the National Guard—but the Constitution, enjoyed
by France for many years—the Constitution, just granted
by Francis and Leopold to their subjects.
The Duke of Savoy, wanting to hear and see for him-
self, went out at night, dressed like a well-to-do farmer, in a
1 Cavour.— Zvanslator’s Note.
NOCTURNAL EXCURSIONS 51
big cloak, with a slouch hat drawn over his eyes, and mixed
with the crowd. He wished to go alone, but I always
kept near him, afraid, not of his being hurt, as he was
popular, but that some expression of public sympathy
might get him into trouble. One night, also in disguise,
I was in the crowd behind Victor Emanuel, listening toa
group of men who were talking vehemently, when I was
violently pushed. I was about to retaliate, when the man
approached and whispered, ‘I am Alexander La Marmora.
Look out, you are known.’ Warning the duke, we quietly
withdrew. The police were aware of our nocturnal
excursions, as I found out from the old marshal, Baron
La Tour, governor of Turin, to whom the duke often sent
me with messages. Fearing lest my frequent visits to
the governor’s palace should attract the attention of the
idlers always stationed in Piazza San Carlo, the baron
told me to enter by the small door in a back street, which
led to the apartments of his son. I remember, as though it
had occurred yesterday, the conversation between us one
February morning after the baron returned from his daily
visit to the palace. Seated in an armchair, and caressing
his beloved snuff-box, he said the king was constantly being
entreated to grant larger concessions and political reforms.
‘They want the Constitution, said His Majesty to me,
‘and I will never grant it. Stopping to take a pinch of
snuff, the old marshal continued, ‘You understand? the
king said he will not grant the Constitution. Well then
he will, and very soon. The baron was right. On the
morning of the 8th February, Turin awoke to the news
that the king had granted the Constitution. Charles
Albert must have had a bitter struggle. He was inti-
mately convinced that his people were, as yet, unfit for
liberty, and he meditated a war with Austria, for the con-
duct of which he considered the absolute independence of
the sovereign was necessary. He was tormented by the
52 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
recollection of his promise made at Paris through the
Sardinian ambassador to the Emperor of Austria, that if
_ his succession to the throne was unopposed, no essential
changes should be made in the institutions which had
endured for eight hundred years. _On this latter point
the Archbishop of Vercelli succeeded in calming his con-
science. Charles Albert gave the Constitution unwillingly,
and against his own convictions, to please his subjects,
but, unlike the Bourbons of Naples, with the resolve to’
keep his word.
The Constitution, announced on the 8th February, was
promulgated on the 4th March. Those twenty-five days
were passed in demonstrations of rejoicing—Ze Deums in
the churches, and processions. It was Carnival time, so
Piazza Castello was crowded with masqueraders and sight-
seers from other parts of Italy. Many were dressed @
L Italien, which at first looked like fancy dress. The
ladies wore a long riding habit of black velvet looped up
over a tricolour silk skirt, or a short velvet dress, with a
tricolour scarf, and all had high calabrese hats, with white,
red, and green feathers and ribbons. The men had shoot-
ing jackets and breeches of black velvet and tricolour waist
scarfs, and their calabrese hats were decorated with tri-
colour braid and tassels. While we were singing, mak-
ing speeches and walking in processions, grave events
were happening in France and preparing in Austria. A
fresh revolution had burst out in Paris ; the Orleans had fled,
and the Republic was proclaimed. The poet Lamartine,
President of the Republic, could not understand that the
sons of the ¢erre des morts had resuscitated, and the idea
that Piedmont might expand into a powerful Italian state
did not please French political men.
It was clear that, in the event of a war with Austria,
we had nothing to hope from France. But in the first
flush of enthusiasm that seemed of no account. ‘What
PROMULGATION OF THE CONSTITUTION | 53
care we for allies? Italy will act by herself!’ (‘?L[talia fara
da se’), was the cry. <A few days later Charles Albert
repeated in public, ‘?/talia fara da se.
There was some justification for this. Deputations
came daily from central and southern Italy of leading
men and of amnestied political prisoners, who had suffered
for the Italian cause, to implore aid from the Piedmontese
army, promising the support of all their fellow-citizens.
Not only the king, but all we young officers, shared the
illusions of the populace, and the streets resounded with
patriotic songs. The excitement increased when the revolu-
tion burst out in Vienna, followed by the famous ‘five
days’ of Milan and the rising in Venice. A Lombard
deputation arrived to entreat the king’s help to turn the
Austrians, not out of Milan—that was done—but out of the
Quadrilateral. Charles Albert promised his aid, and im-
mediately ordered the troops nearest the frontier (the
brigade Piedmont, and the Pinerolo and Piedmont cavalry
regiments, with the Ist field battery, about four thousand
men in all) to cross the Ticino and march to Milan. At
the same time, the whole army was to be placed on a
war footing.
After the promulgation of the Constitution the ministry
resigned. Sclopis, failing to form a new one, the king
called Cesare Balbo, requesting him to give a portfolio
to the Genoese, Laurence Pareto. The new ministry
assumed office on the 16th March, and the duty fell to
Franzini general of the staff, as Minister of War, to
organise the army for active service.
The task was an arduous one. Since 1815 there had
been peace, and during the ten years’ reign of Charles
Felix military discipline had been neglected. Charles
Albert had to reform everything. The Camps of Instruc-
tion, instituted by him, and which were held nearly every
year from 1833 to 1847, had imparted some practical
84 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
knowledge, especially as to the combined action of the
various arms.
In a few days Franzini succeeded in placing twenty-five
thousand disciplined troops on a war footing, to be joined
by twenty thousand provincials, thus bringing the army
up to forty-five thousand men. With the announced sup-
port of the whole Lombard population, and the Roman,
Tuscan and Neapolitan troops promised by their respective
sovereigns before our departure, we calculated on having
over a hundred thousand men, and, like Bonaparte in
1797, imagined ourselves already near the gates of Vienna.
Such were the brilliant illusions, too soon, alas! to be
dispelled.
Franzini, who had known me for some time and
honoured me with his esteem, named me colonel, and
chose me as chief of the staff of the reserve division, to
be commanded by the Duke of Savoy. I was ordered to
leave at once for Casale to organise it.
The division of the Duke of Savoy was composed of—
1st. The brigade of Grenadier Guards, the first and
finest in the army; and the Sardinian Sharp-
shooters, under the command of General Count
Biscaretti.
2d. The brigade Cuneo, commanded by General
d’Aviernoz.
3d. The regiment of Aosta cavalry, in which my
brother Frederick was captain, commanded by
Colonel Castelborgo, which was substituted by
that of Genoa when we arrived at Piadena.
4th, Four battalions of Bersaglieri, a detachment of
engineers, and three batteries of artillery under
Major Alphonse La Marmora, besides ambul-
ances, commissariat, etc., etc.
1 Reserves formed of soldiers discharged before finishing their time with
the colours (eight years), and allowed to marry.
CHARLES ALBERT COMMANDS ARMY 55
As I am not writing a history of the campaign, I shall
only jot down from memory, aided by my notes, the part
played by the reserve. On the 24th March the king, with
the Duke of Savoy, left Turin for Alessandria to take
command of the troops assembled there. As soon as our
division was ready at Casale the duke joined us, and we
left tc meet the king on the road to Pavia. Before
entering the town, tricolour cocardes and flags were
distributed to the men. From a sentiment of delicacy
Charles Albert ordered them to be substituted for the
blue of the House of Savoy, as once the Ticino was
crossed war and army became Italian.
The entry of the king into Pavia on the 29th March,
at the head of some twenty thousand men, roused extra-
ordinary enthusiasm, and the city was decked with the
Italian colours. The townspeople were unanimous in
desiring to drive the Austrians out of Italy. Not so the
villagers and peasants, generally Conservatives, and afraid
lest the passage of troops and a change of government would
only bring requisitions and fresh taxes. We had proof of
this at Borghetto, our first halting-place. Resenting our
camping in their fields, the peasants prepared to open the
sluices of the canals to flood the country. I sent for the
syndic, and finding my appeal to the sentiment of Italian
brotherhood, proclaimed by Lombardy, useless, threatened
to burn the village if my men were not allowed to sleep in
peace on dry land.
From Borghetto we went to Cremona, where the king
had established his headquarters. Most of the generals
had arrived, and the more distant garrisons of Nice, Savoy
and Genoa, with many of the provincial regiments, were
continually coming in. A council was held, and the
formation of the army into two corps, divided into five
divisions, was decreed. The Ist corps, under General
Eusebius Bava, consisted of two divisions; the 2d
56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN ©
also of two divisions, was commanded by General Hector
de Sonnaz; and the 5th formed the reserve under the
Duke of Savoy. The Duke of Genova commanded the’
artillery, and supreme head of the army was the king.
General Salasco, the chief of the staff and his deputy,
Colonel Cassato, were disciplinarians, cultured, and honest,
but wanting in initiative and military tuition. The Min-
ister of War, Franzini, who accompanied the army, was,
from a military point of view, the better man of the three,
but he had no command, and only a consulting vote.
The choice of Salasco as chief of the staff was 4 grave
mistake. He ought never to have accepted a post of such
responsibility, for which he was unfit. He lacked the
authority which it was his duty to exert ; under him every-
one wanted to give orders, and that unity of command, so
indispensable to an army, did not exist with us in 1848.
It was natural that Charles Albert, who risked every-
thing in the cause of independence, should wish to accom-
pany the army. But either his chief of the staff should
have been enterprising, intelligent, and highly educated,
with an ascendancy over the sovereign such as Berthier
possessed in the first wars of Napoleon, or the command
should have been entrusted to an experienced general who
had the practice and knowledge of military matters. Bava,
De Sonnaz, Franzini, and perhaps Bes, might have been
capable of so great an enterprise.
The Duke of Savoy was impatient to enter the field, but
rather as a common soldier than a commander. Cour-
ageous, like all his race, he would have enjoyed rushing
into the thick of the fight, and charging the enemy with
his lance at rest, like a knight of old. Without much
instruction or knowledge of military matters, he had
excellent common sense, listened to advice, and followed
it when he saw it was good.
The Duke of Genova was said to be better informed
THE AUSTRIANS RETREAT 57
than his brother; he was certainly more thoughtful and less
expansive, but equally courageous.
We continued our march towards the Mincio, between
which and the river Chiese the Austrians were strongly
entrenched. They however fell back, and our advanced
guard soon came within touch of them. At Cremona it
had been decided to attempt the passage of the Mincio
and advance on Mantua, so the king went towards
Piadena and Macaria. An Austrian reconnaissance from
the fortress caught a small detachment of our cavalry
asleep in a dairy farm, and took them prisoners to Mantua.
The officers were in despair at this first check, but
had their revenge at the Bridge of Goito on the 8th and
1ith April. Only the Ist and 2d corps were engaged ;
the reserve was not called up. The Marquis Ceva had
been despatched from headquarters to inform the Duke of
Savoy of the affair, and when we were between Castel-
goffredo and Castiglione delle Stiviere, Ceva arrived at
full gallop, pulling up short on seeing the duke. Too
excited and out of breath to speak, he opened and shut
his mouth like a fish out of water, without producing a
sound, At last he gasped,‘ A i soun, Altessa, a i soun!’!
The Bersaglieri especially distinguished themselves by pur-
suing the enemy across the ruins of the bridge, and their
commander, Alexander La Marmora, had his jaw fractured.
The Austrians, driven out of Goito and Valeggio,
retired towards the Adige, and our troops occupied Mon-
zambano and Borghetto. The king established his head-
quarters at Volta, whence he attempted to attack Peschiera
on the 13th April. He had been informed that there was
only a small body of troops, with many Italians among
them anxious to join their brethren. The fortress, on
the contrary, was strongly garrisoned chiefly by Croats.
After bombarding the place for a whole day the king saw
1* They are there, your Highness, they are there.’
58 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
that, without the siege train which had been left in Ales-
sandria, nothing could be done. Alphonse La Marmora,
one of the chief partisans of this attack on Peschiera, and
who had persuaded the Duke of Genoa to suggest it to the
king, offered to treat for the capitulation of the fortress.
Astounded at such audacity, the commander refused to
receive him; so the king sent Major Cavalli to Ales-
sandria to fetch the siege train, and retired, leaving
Federici’s division to prepare the earth works.
From Castiglioni delle Stiviere we had meanwhile
marched to Cavriana, where we remained for nearly a
fortnight, and whence the duke went to visit his father
at Peschiera. Soon afterwards the king transferred his
quarters to Monzambano, the duke went with the Gren-
adiers to Valeggio, while the Cuneo brigade remained
at Volta. On the 29th we heard cannon in the direction
of Santa Giustina, whither the king had gone in the morn-
ing. In the distance I saw moving masses, but could
distinguish nothing; so, setting spurs to my horse, galloped -
up a winding path, cut so deeply in the hillside that I could
not see to the right or left. Finding that I was approach-
ing within gunshot of the enemy, and from one moment
to another might be seen, I urged my horse up the steep
bank, whence, plunging into the wood, I returned to
Valeggio to give the alarm. The Austrians, however, did
not attack us,and we were not summoned to support the
other division. In the evening we learned that the enemy
had been driven back to Pastrengo, whence Charles Albert
determined to dislodge them on the following day.
The king’s object in taking the offensive was to drive
the enemy away from Peschiera, which he was about to
besiege, and to open the road to Verona. Emissaries of a
patriotic committee, who afterwards paid dearly for put-
ting themselves into communication with him, were daily
appealing for help. The population, they declared, was
THE POPE CHANGES HIS MIND 59
ready to rise and drive the Austrians out, as the Milanese
had done, if the army would support them. These
repeated assurances, at first only listened to by the king,
in the end convinced Franzini and Bava, and on them
were based the military operations of the end of April
and the beginning of May.
In April large reinforcements reached us. Immediately
after driving out their princes, Parma and Modena declared
in favour of a great northern kingdom of Italy, and des-
patched troops to join us. Those promised by Tuscany,
Rome and Naples also came in, so that, with the con-
tingent of provincials, about fifty thousand men were added
to the fifty thousand we already had on the Mincio. The
companies, consisting of one hundred or one hundred and
fifty men, were raised to two- hundred and fifty, a thing
never seen before or since. Several provincial regiments
were in the affair at the Bridge of Goito, and, although all
married men with families, had fought well, and were
obedient to discipline. For the moment the Italian army
was superior in number to the Austrian; but the half
beyond the Po included many volunteers—men who knew
nothing of warfare, and hindered us more than they
helped. Before we could discipline them, they disbanded
and vanished, while the Romans were recalled by the
Pope, and the Neapolitans by King Francis. The Pope,
the initiator of the revolution, who two months before had
blessed the troops, changed his mind, and, in an allocution
of the 29th April, sounded the note of alarm which caused
the recall of the Romans, and soon afterwards of the
Neapolitans.
All this we, of course, did not know in the latter days
of April; and men from Piedmont, Lombardy, Parma and
Modena fought bravely side by side on the 28th and 29th
at Cola, Sandra and Santa Giustina, and on the 30th at
Pastrengo,
60 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF-A VETERAN
The engagement at Pastrengo only began towards
eleven, either because Charles Albert, in the fervour
of his religious mysticism, insisted on first praying and
hearing mass, or that De Sonnaz, who had only just been
put in command, had not had time to prepare things
before. Five hours later the heights were ours.
The command of the Duke of Savoy was divided, the
brigade of Guards being on the right, the Cuneo brigade in
the centre ; De Sonnaz’s divisions were on the left and also
in the centre. Officers and men scrambled impetuously up
the steep hill, the top of which was fortified and occupied
by the Austrians. I have seen many skirmishes and battles
since then, but the ardour, the enthusiasm, displayed in the
first days of the campaign of ’48, I never saw again. The
Piedmontese and the other Italians, who daily joined the
regular army, presented the moving spectacle of a whole
people rising to drive the stranger out of their country.
While the combat was raging on the steeps of Pastrengo,
I perceived that, by advancing on our right from Verona,
the enemy might strike us on the flank. The danger had
not been foreseen, and points of defence had been left un-
manned. Communicating my fears to the duke, I asked
permission to go and reconnoitre. With full powers to
make all necessary dispositions, I took’ Lieutenant Avet
of the staff with me, and galloped towards Santa Giustina.
From the strong battery posted there, I saw through my
field-glasses several columns of the enemy’s infantry leav-
ing Verona for the Osteria del Bosco, on the Peschiera
road, at the foot of the Sona Hills—a position that had
been almost denuded of troops that very morning to
reinforce the attack on Pastrengo. I immediately ordered
the artillery to fire on the advancing columns, which was
done with excellent results. Meanwhile I despatched
Avet to Sona to ask General Sommariva, commanding
the Aosta brigade, to send down part of his men on to
BATTLE OF PASTRENGO 61
the Verona-Peschiera road, to oppose the enemy’s advance.
Before arriving at the Osteria del Bosco, the broad and
straight causeway is cut through a hill, and has steep
banks on either side. Just there, whence nothing could
be seen, I found the brigade of cavalry commanded by
Major-General Sala awaiting orders, which never came.
I warned him of the enemy’s approach, and of the necessity
of preventing it, to which he objected his lack of infantry,
there only being sixty grenadiers near by, sent to bring in
supplies, under Lieutenant Villafalletto. The latter, fully
alive to the danger, had disposed his men in skirmishing
order, ready to support the cavalry or the nearest battery.
I advised Sala to dismount a certain number of his cavalry
in order to strengthen the defence. The general acceded
to this, and soon afterwards, seeing part of the Aosta
brigade coming down the hill, I returned to Pastrengo to
tranquillise the duke, and take part in the last exciting
moments of the engagement.
Although the Austrians were in great force,and had
the advantage of a dominating position, they were rapidly
driven down towards the Adige, which they crossed on
pontoons, with the fear, naturally, of being pursued by us.
But the elementary rule that a victory should always be fol-
lowed up was neglected. The order to cease the pursuit was
given too soon, and this grave mistake was repeated many
times during the campaign, to the despair of the officers.
Finding the road under the Sona barred, and probably
informed of the defeat of Pastrengo, the Austrians retreated
again into Verona.
During the battle Charles Albert rode from place to
place with a small suite, chiefly composed of non-com-
batants, such as the Lombard envoys and the representa-
tives of various cities. Suddenly meeting a company of
Tyrolese, Sanfront, the colonel commanding the escort of
carabineers, gave the order to charge, when Charles
62 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF-A VETERAN
Albert drew his sword, and dashing forward with the
men drove the enemy up the hill.
After the battle our army encamped between Sandra
and Santa Giustina, the king and the Duke of Savoy
establishing their headquarters at the latter place. In
the evening there was a slight altercation between the
duke and Alphonse La Marmora, who was so convinced
of his own superior knowledge that, instead of obeying
orders, he generally went his own way. The Duke of
Genova’s admiration and high opinion of La Marmora was
not shared by Victor Emanuel, who, using a Piedmontese.
phrase, called him a venditore di vasetti (seller of pots),
meaning a man who knows how to cry up his own wares,
He esteemed La Marmora’s high sense of honour, and
made use of him when necessary, as he was popular,
determined, and not afraid of responsibility. But Victor
Emanuel never liked him, and resented his superior
manners.*
In the first days of the campaign we were often on
short rations, not entirely from the fault of the contractors,
but from the peculiar conditions in which we were placed.
It was impossible for us to behave as conquerors to
our allies and brothers, who showed little generosity, and
no inclination to assist the army which had come to their
aid. This was one of the many disillusions to which I
have already alluded.
The division of the Duke of Savoy, more fortunate
than the others, suffered but little from want of food or
1 Victor Emanuel’s opinion of General Alphonse La Marmora is curiously
confirmed by Theodor von Bernhardi. In the seventh volume of his Zagebuch-
blatter (1866-1867), just published, he talks of La Marmora as a narrow-
minded Piedmontese, whose management of military affairs was childish.
The king said to Bernhardi (p. 225), ‘ 77 »’a pas beaucoup de téte, ce pauvre
La Marmora.’ On the other hand, La Marmora told him, ‘ Prenez garde
gue le rot ne vous fasse quelque pilé. . . comme le roi nest pas fort... ul
en a fait & mot.’—Translator’s Note.
VERONESE COMMITTEE BREAK PROMISES 63
forage. After the first days of confusion we arranged
directly with the various syndics to furnish supplies on
notes of hand, which were faithfully paid at Turin the
following year when I was in the ministry.
From {Santa Giustina the king transferred his head-
quarters to Sommacampagna, while the duke went to
Guastalla.
The ministry at Turin, the provincial governments of
Lombardy, and the Duchies were always urging Charles
Albert to strike a decisive blow in order to maintain the
popular enthusiasm (particularly in the Lombard provinces,
where registers had been opened in favour of annexation) ;
while the Veronese Committee assured him that the whole
population would rise to expel the Austrian garrison.! So,
for the second time, he determined to take the offensive,
and attempt to lure the enemy out of Verona, in the hopes
of gaining a decisive victory in the open to be announced
at the meeting of Parliament, fixed for the 8th May. On
the 4th he charged both Bava and Franzini to prepare
plans of battle. He chose Franziniss—more complicated,
but not very dissimilar from that of Bava. At a council
of all the generals—saving, I never knew why, the duke—
the king’s opinion prevailed ; and Bava undertook to carry
it out, demanding twenty-four hours in which to distribute
orders to the troops destined to be engaged—the Ist corps,
the reserve, and a division of the 2d corps. The king,
however, and probably the other generals, insisted on the
immediate execution of the plan, either in the hope of
surprising the enemy, or because the Veronese Committee
announced a rising within the city for the 6th.
Orders were therefore prepared and sent out during the
1 The promises and affirmations of the members of this Committee, too
lightly made in the name of the citizens, were most injurious to the Italian
cause. They were the primary cause of the mistaken actions at Santa Lucia, at
Tomba and Tombetta. The cruelty with which they were punished by the
Austrians forbids us to judge them too severely.
64 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
night. But the time was too short. Many commanding
officers were left in total ignorance of what had been
settled and never moved, others received their instructions
too late, or they were not clear, so they arrived when the
battle was half over, some even when it was finished.
The orders were that at seven on the morning of the
6th May the army was to be under Verona. The Ist
division at S. Massimo to form the centre; the 2d at
Santa Lucia on the right; the 3d at Croce Bianca on the
left; one brigade of the reserve, the Guards, were to go
to Santa Lucia, the second was to support the centre.
But at seven o'clock no one had appeared at their
appointed places save the king and Bava (who was in
command) with their staffs, and the Aosta brigade with
the 8th battery of artillery. Seeing this the king wished
to postpone the engagement, but Radetzky, as usual, per-
fectly informed as to our movements, opened fire, and
from an offensive ours became a defensive movement.
We had received our orders at Guastalla, after ten in the
evening, and I passed the night in distributing them to
the various commanders. All were not ready at the
appointed time, and the duke and I were kept waiting
about an hour. However, the Guards reached Somma-
campagna at half-past seven, and I sent them on to Santa
Lucia to reinforce the Aosta brigade.
Passing through the small village of Tana, on our way
to S. Massimo, I noticed a ladder against the church tower,
and, interrogating some peasants, learned that Austrian
troops had just passed through in the same direction
as ourselves. Dismounting, I climbed to the top of the
tower, and saw that S. Massimo was still unoccupied,
and we reached there before the division of General
d’Arvillars, under whose orders the duke was. After his
arrival we saw that the enemy on the other side of the
hill were continually receiving large reinforcements. The
CUNEO BRIGADE ORDERED TO ADVANCE 65
general gave the artillery orders to fire, but seeing the
preponderating numbers of the enemy, and the strong
position occupied by them, he waited for renewed orders
before attacking. | .
A little after mid-day General d’Arvillars sent an aide-
de-camp to the duke, ordering the Cuneo brigade to go
to Santa Lucia. This seemed to me so contrary to all
scientific rules, which forbid a column to expose its flank
to the enemy’s fire, that I feared the aide-de-camp, who :
was the general’s son and very young, might have made
some mistake, and sent to request the order to be repeated.
On receiving the confirmation the duke immediately
started, and I galloped off with the captain of the staff,
Count S. Martino d’Aglie, to find Bava and ask what
position the Cuneo brigade was to occupy. I found Bava
at Santa Lucia, who told me the Guards had greatly dis-
tinguished themselves, but had suffered severely. Fearing
that they would not be able to hold the position against
a renewed attack, he had ordered the Cuneo brigade to
take their place. Then he sent me to reconnoitre the
ground in front of the first line.
Dismounting, I advanced, and at a bend of the road
found General Sommariva (commander of the Aosta
brigade) bending over the body of Count Balbis, his
young aide-de-camp. Raising the handkerchief he had
thrown over the poor fellow’s face, he let me have a last
look at him, then drawing a ring off the dead hand he said,
with an unsteady voice, ‘I shall give this myself to his
parents.’ He warned me that the road was swept by the
fire of an Austrian battery, and for a moment I felt my
heart beat, not for myself—a bachelor—but for d’Aglie,
who had left his young wife, about to become a mother,
to resume service in the army when war was declared.
We walked on fast—not running, lest people might think
us cowards—and when I had fulfilled my mission, returned
E
66 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF_A VETERAN
to meet the Cuneo brigade. It came up with the artillery
about four o'clock, having been knocked about during the
flank march, but full of fight.
We had hardly taken up the positions held till then by
the Guards when news came that the king had ordered
a retreat. So astonished and disappointed were we that
we refused to believe it. Shortly afterwards Bava arrived,
in full dress uniform, with all his decorations (his habit
was to dress so for battle), and bowing low to the duke, as
a well-bred man would do to a prince in a ballroom, said,
‘With your Royal Highness’s permission, I take command
of, and lead the retreat, requesting your Royal Highness
to protect the rearguard.’ Then, in a clear voice, im-
_ passible under the enemy’s fire, he gave the words of com-
mand, ‘ Retreat by sections.’
Charles Albert had ridden several times during the
engagement up to the walls of Verona, hoping to see the
signal which had been agreed upon, or, at least, to receive
some message. Once he was nearly made prisoner by a
squadron of Uhlans;. luckily they were put to flight by
shells fired from two of our guns. No sign came from the
town, and on hearing that the centre column had been
unable to deploy in line for the capture of S. Massimo,
which was well defended, while the Broglia division had
failed in the attack on Croce Bianca, he deemed it better
to desist and order the retreat. Santa Lucia alone was in
our possession, and the error committed at Pastrengo was
repeated there. Our troops were masters of the position,
fresh ones were ready to reinforce them. The D’Arvillars
and Broglia divisions might also have been called up to
_ pursue the enemy into Verona itself, where the population,
at the sight of the Italian troops, would probably have
fulfilled the promises made by their representatives. It
was a fatal mistake, and most painful for us to see victory
always elude us when half won, more especially at Santa
RADETZKY REOCCUPIES SANTA LUCIA 67
Lucia, which had been taken at so great a sacrifice. We
lost seven hundred or eight hundred killed and wounded,
and the Austrian loss was greater. |
| Radetzky reoccupied the position immediately the
duke left, but did not molest our retreat.
CHAPTER Vit
1848— Continued
My Plan to prevent a Junction between Radetzky and Nugent — Spys at
Villafranca—We concentrate at Valeggio—The Austrians attack Us—
Victor Emanuel is wounded—Fall of Peschiera—Radetzky takes
Vicenza—We blockade Mantua—Battle of Custoza—We retreat on
Goito—King refuses Armistice—We retreat on Milan—Tumults in
Milan—Capitulation— We evacuate Milan.
WE remained inactive at Guastalla for several weeks, riding
now to Peschiera to watch the preparations for the siege,
now to Sommacampagna, the king’s headquarters, whence
we always returned out of temper and disappointed at
hearing and seeing no sign of intending hostilities. The
2d regiment of Grenadiers was at Guastalla, the Ist at
Sommacampagna, while great part of the Cuneo brigade
was employed in transporting the siege artillery which
arrived from Alessandria towards the middle of May. Owing
to the heavy rain the roads were almost impassable, and
it required hundreds of men to move each piece. A few
battalions of the Cuneo brigade were ranged in echelon
behind the centre of the line, which extended from Rivoli
to Villafranca, resting on Valeggio and Goito in order to
assist the cavalry in guarding our flanks. Valeggio was
defended by the artillery and the cavalry brigade.
These dispositions had been made to guard against a
possible attack by Radetzky, who was expecting General
Nugent with sixteen thousand or eighteen thousand men.
The latter had crossed the Isonzo and was already in Friuli,
68
PLAN FOR PREVENTING THE JUNCTION €9
but the Tagliamento, the Piave, and the Brenta still lay
before him, swollen by the heavy rains. For this, or
some other reason, his advance was so slow that General
Durando had time to confront him with twelve or
fifteen thousand Romans, Swiss, and Italians from various
provinces, half regular troops, half volunteers. Knowing
how little one could count upon men hastily collected and
unacquainted with their officers, some of whom were unfit
for their post, we trembled for the result.
For several days and nights I had been possessed
with one idea—to prevent the junction between Nugent
and Radetzky. Preparing a plan, hazardous I admit,
but not impracticable, I submitted it to the duke I
suggested crossing the Adige, between Verona and
Legnano, by a flying bridge at night, and marching to
the assistance of Durando. If properly carried out, we
ought to be at some distance before the enemy knew of
our movements; and even had he followed and caught
us up, I was confident of beating him with our brave
fellows fresh from the victory at Pastrengo, the more
so, that he would have been between two fires; Charles
Albert, with two divisions, attacking Verona in front,
and Victor Emanuel, with his division and the Savoy
brigade on the side facing the Adige—in all sixty
thousand men. If not molested, we should join Durando,
and drive Nugent back beyond the Tagliamento.
The duke liked my plan, resolved to suggest it to his
father, and rode off next morning in high spirits. But,
alas! he returned dispirited and irritated. Never had
his father treated him so harshly, or repulsed him so
severely. The king said that if he considered himself
a general because he wore a general’s uniform, he would
teach him that he knew nothing, that he could only
repeat a lesson taught him by others, and that he
appeared to have forgotten that it was not for him to
70 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
give advice to his superiors, who had never asked
for it.
Victor Emanuel, grieved and extremely mortified, was
at first rather cross with me, the indirect cause of his
annoyance. But, kind and just, that soon passed off, and
he was soon convinced that we were not so much in the
wrong. Durando, left to himself with his volunteers, was
beaten ; and first Nugent, then Thurn, joined Radetzky,
who at once prepared to take the offensive. Finding our
front and flanks well protected, he determined to attack us
in the rear, and thus liberate Peschiera.
Besides instituting continual reconnaissances round
Verona, I had arranged with some trusty Piedmontese,
small traders in the district, to collect what news they
could from their German clients. One of them brought
me proof that some Italians, members of the Municipal
Council of Villafranca, were in correspondence with General
Radetzky’s headquarters. Furious, I went to tell the duke,
who commanded me to find out the culprits and reprimand
them severely in his name. At Villafranca I discovered
the whole story. Carried away by my indignation, instead
of informing General Passalaqua, as I ought to have done,
I went straight to the accused, and upbraided them in no
measured terms. Of course they denied, and as soon as
my back was turned went to Passalaqua to complain, and
protest their innocence. The general reported me to the
king, who condemned me to two months’ imprisonment in
the fortress of Pizzighettone. But my good friend Franzini
interceded, and the sentence was revoked.
From my Piedmontese spies I learned that prepara-
tions were being made in Verona for a sortie in strength,
which was soon confirmed by Lieutenant Marquis Trecchi,
whom I had despatched with an escort to reconnoitre.
He returned with the news that a large force of infantry,
cavalry, and artillery with a siege battery, were leaving
TROOPS CONCENTRATE AT VALEGGIO 71
Verona in the direction of Mantua. I sent at once to
warn them at headquarters, and the same information
arrived a little later from Passalaqua at Villafranca. We
received orders to concentrate troops at Valeggio, and
early on 30th May we left with the king in the direction of
Goito, crossing the Mincio at Borghetto, on the way to
Volta. On the march we met a Tuscan officer, who
narrated the losses suffered the day before by the militia
at Curtatone and Montanara. The troops we had seen
leave Verona had made a sortie from Mantua, and in over-
whelming force had fallen on the few thousand volunteers
under General de Laugier, to whom Bava had not had
time to send the promised reinforcements. The number
of Tuscans and Neapolitans dead and wounded was
enormous, the rest had retreated to Brescia.
From Volta we continued our march to Goito, which
we reached before mid-day. The king took up his position
on the rising ground of Somenzari, while the duke in the
plain reviewed his division, already drawn up in line of
battle according to the instructions sent by Bava. The
engagement was to be fought by the Ist corps and the Duke
of Savoy’s division, in all a little over eighteen thousand
men, a number about equal to the Austrian force. The two
brigades (Guards and Cuneo) of the Duke’s division were
in position behind the artillery, one half of each in the
first line, and with the Aosta brigade (division D’Arvillar)
formed one right wing facing the road leading from Goito
to Brescia, and parallel to that from Volta. The high road
between Solarolo and. Ceresara was thus guarded. On the
left the division Ferrere was covered by Goito, and in a
position to resist any attack, but the Guards on the extreme
right, being quite in the open, might easily have been
outflanked. Bava had, therefore, strengthened them with
artillery and cavalry. His chief of the staff, sent to recon-
noitre in the direction of Gazzoldo, returned without having
72 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
seen any sign of the enemy; but Castelborgo, colonel of
the Aosta cavalry, reconnoitring towards Sacca, reported
that large bodies of troops were marching thence in the
direction of Goito. Bava, who had expected to be taken
in the rear from Gazzolo was reassured, and made up his
mind the large bodies of Austrians were only small patrols,
and that so late in the day (3 p.m.) there was no fear of any
attack. Ordering the men to pile arms, and the rations to
be distributed, he joined the king, and they rode slowly
along the Volta road back towards Valeggio. The Duke
of Savoy handed over his division to me and followed
after them.
I had been too busy to eat anything before starting,
and, passing a baker’s shop on the march, bought a hot
roll, which thoroughly disagreed with me. Feeling horribly
sick, I had dismounted and stretched myself on the grass
while the men were eating. Suddenly my brother rushed
up. He also had seen a large Austrian force near Goito,
and implored me to warn the king.
Charles Albert and his suite were riding at a walk, so I
soon caught them up, and hardly were the words out of my
mouth when a cannon shot confirmed them. Turning his
horse, the king galloped back to Goito to give fresh orders,
immediately executed, because Castelborgo, on his return
from reconnoitring, had, in passing, told the officers of
the artillery and of the brigades that he was convinced an
attack was imminent.
At 3.30 p.m. the Austrians, as Bava had supposed,
attempted to turn our right where the Grenadiers and
artillery were posted; the latter immediately opened fire
upon them. I was behind the Grenadiers, and as it
seemed to me that General Biscaretti, absorbed in station-
ing his battalions, delayed the more necessary duty of
launching them against the enemy, I gave the order to
charge—‘ Battalion Marmorito, battalion La Rovere, for-
VICTOR EMANUEL WOUNDED 73
ward ; charge with the bayonet!’ Our splendid Grenadiers
rushed forward with tremendous impetus; but many men
and officers fell, among them Camillo Cavour’s nephew.
The Austrians withdrew, but only to bear down on our
centre, which wavered for a moment at the point where
the Cuneo and Aosta brigades touched. A battalion had
given way, thus breaking the line. But the Duke of
Savoy threw himself into their midst, shouting, ‘ Avantzz,
fieut; couragi, avanti /’+ infusing fresh ardour into them
and reforming the line.
Major Mollard did the same with his battalion of the
Aosta brigade. The artillery, hampered by the crowd of
our own men advancing to meet the enemy close at hand,
could no longer manceuvre. One battery, stopped by a
ditch flanked by trees, ran imminent risk of being cap-
tured, when Mollard dismounted, seized a rifle, and at the
head of his men charged with fixed bayonets. The
Austrians retreated and then fled.
The bullets were whistling past our ears and falling
like hail, killing men all round us. I leant towards the
duke and whispered, ‘I expect we shall find ourselves
this evening a ca da’ Bergniff.*
‘Not at all, he answered; ‘my plans are different.
Someone is waiting for me this evening at Volta—but not
Bergniff? While thus joking, the duke suddenly put his
hand to his right thigh, saying in the same tone of voice,
‘I am wounded.’
Seeing him so calm, and that he had not changed
colour, I felt sure the wound could not be dangerous, but
insisted on his going to a surgeon, who was behind a mul-
berry hedge near by. We walked our horses quietly, as if
we were only changing our places, and the surgeon pro-
nounced the wound to have been made by a ricochetting
1 ‘Forward, my sons; courage, forward !’
2 * House of the devil’ (hell).
74. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
ball, and not serious, though it bled a good deal. As soon
as the duke heard this he refused to have the wound
dressed, and remounted to show himself to the troops,
among whom the news that he was wounded was already
circulating. I then asked leave to go and tell the king,
lest the news might reach him in an exaggerated form.
Charles Albert had not heard of his son’s wound, and
was listening to my-report, when Captain Franzini, the
general’s youngest brother, came from Peschiera with a
letter from the Duke of Genoa. The king opened it with-
out dropping his reins, Before he had time to read a word
a projectile fell a few feet in front of his horse, which
reared. The king drove his spurs into the beast and
forced him to stand over the shell. We all remained
motionless, but reflected, ‘If that grenade bursts, the king
will be blown up and all of us with him.’ The shell did
not burst; the king read his letter, and with perfect calm-
ness looked slowly round at us and said,—
‘ Messteurs, Peschiera est a nous. +
We saluted these words with a tremendous hurrah,
which was taken up all along our line, followed by a
general and voluntary attack with the bayonet, which
sent the enemy flying.
This engagement, and that of Pastrengo, were the
most glorious days for the small, but courageous and
well-disciplined Piedmontese army; defended by excel-
lent artillery, and composed of men who knew and trusted
their officers. Had its leaders possessed resolution and
audacity, the fate of Italy would have been decided in a
few months. The hesitation and want of initiative and
unity among the commanders, the weakness of the head
of the general staff, and the badness of the commissariat
damped its enthusiasm and destroyed many of its good
1. During the whole campaign Charles Albert preserved his habit of talking
French to us.
FALL OF PESCHIERA 7
qualities ; but not, as has been said and written, to such
an extent as to cause insubordination or cowardice. Till
the end of the campaign of 1848, in spite of attempts at
corruption, the men were valorous and faithful to the king
and the House of Savoy.
As soon as J heard the good news that Peschiera was
ours I started back to tell the duke, although I felt so ill
that I could hardly sit my horse. He left for Volta after
giving me his orders for the night’s bivouacking, and I sent
out to bring in the dead and wounded. The excitement
which had sustained me all oy then ceased, and I fell flat
on the ground.
Count Piatti, a Veronese, one of the officers in the
duke’s suite, came to my assistance. We saw a cart
drawn by a donkey coming along with a wounded man
in it, who turned out to be my cousin, Major Marmorito.
I was lifted in, and we reached Volta late at night. Next
morning I was all right again.
The weather had changed to rain during the night, and
our men suffered much, particularly from want of food.
The commissariat broke down completely ; the contrac-
tors lost their heads, and could not follow our rapid move-
ments. In less than twenty-four hours we had concentrated
eighteen thousand men at Goito. Not knowing the avail-
able force of the enemy, whose second line was not far off,
we were obliged to await the arrival of De Sonnaz’s corps,
summoned to Volta by Bava. Meanwhile we _ pre-
pared for a more important battle to be fought on the
same ground.
There were a few trifling skirmishes between the
Austrians and our outposts on the Ist and 2d June; on
the 3d the 2d corps arrived; and on the 4th the staffs
left Valeggio for Goito, where the army was in battle
order. But it was too late; the enemy, who were at Sacca,
Ceresara, and Solarolo the night before, had disappeared
76 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
A few thousand retired to Verona, but the greater
number marched towards Mantua. The retreat was a
blind to cover Radetzky’s real destination—Vicenza—
whence he proposed to drive Durando.!. Our troops
advanced as far as the dyke of Curtatone and Monta-
nara, but only found traces of the recent passage of the
enemy, and returned in the evening to their old camping
ground. The king and the duke went back to Valeggio,
where we passed the month of June. The former was,
however, often absent; first going to take formal pos-
‘session of Peschiera, and then passing some days at
Garda, where he received Count Casati with the Lom-
bard deputation, who presented the registers with 561,000
signatures in favour of immediate annexion to Piedmont.
Modena, Parma, Piacenza, and other cities on the right
bank of the Po, had already sent in their votes.
Several generals were summoned to Garda to discuss
the various projects the king had under consideration.
As soon as Franzini knew that Radetzky had marched
on Vicenza he strongly advised following him; while the
king thought we had better take advantage of his absence
to attack Verona. Bava was not averse, but insisted that
the central positions round Goito should not be abandoned,
or our retreat, in case of disaster, would be cut off. General
de Sonnaz and others affirmed the necessity of driving the
enemy from Rivoli before attempting to take Verona, and
also suggested a rapid advance from Villafranca in order
to cut off Radetzky’s return. Charles Albert decided on
attacking Verona during the absence of the Austrian com-
mander-in-chief, and orders were given to concentrate at
1 Unfortunately, he effected his purpose on the 9th and 1oth June.
Durando had beaten off the Austrians on the 23d and 24th May, but now
succumbed to superior numbers. Colonel Massimo d’Azeglio (volunteer)
and Colonel Cialdini, lately come from Spain to offer his services to the
Italian cause, were wounded on that murderous day at Vicenza.
FALL OF VICENZA 77
Villafranca on the 12th, and march thence on Verona,
Tomba and Tombetta.
Leaving Villafranca on the morning of the 13th we
reached our destination the same evening. The duke’s
division was the first to reach Tomba, and on the way the
superior officers heard the bad news that Vicenza had
fallen and Durando had been forced to capitulate. This
implied the probable return of Radetzky. We bivouacked
that night (over 40,000 men) under the walls of Verona,
hourly waiting for a signal that Caliari, a member of the
famous Veronese Committee, was to give on the outbreak
of the revolution inside the town.
We looked in vain, no signal came; and at dawn on
the 14th we received orders from headquarters, where
Radetzky’s return was known, to retire.
At Valeggio ambassadors, diplomats, intermediaries,
bringing advice or proposals for peace or mediation, were
perpetually coming and going. A deputation arrived from
Sicily to offer the crown to the Duke of Genova; ministers
came from Turin to. take orders, and to entreat that the
war should be rapidly pushed on; Parma, Piacenza and
Modena sent members of their provisional governments
begging for aid to counteract the intrigues of the deposed
dukes and the retrograde party; while the Lombard re-
presentatives insisted on immediate action and the em-
ployment of the contingents sent by Lombardy, whose
number they exaggerated.
General Hector Perrone was organising these, a diffi-
cult task, and one not to be accomplished in a few days;
and meanwhile their impatience reached fever heat. En-
thusiasm turned to criticism; odious suppositions and
calumnies were rife, attacking even the king.
Our numbers were immensely exaggerated. People
talked of 120,000 or 130,000 men as against 70,000 or 75,000
Austrians. In reality, we had fewer men than the enemy
78 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
—6500 were in hospital, and their number increased daily ;
18,000 were in Venice, and about the same number were
immobilised by the capitulations of Vicenza, Treviso and
Palmanova.! So that in July we had only 65,000 men
under arms, and in worse condition than Radetzky’s 75,000. .
Nevertheless, something had to be done. Charles Albert,
daily importuned to move, waited in vain for the enemy
to attack us. At last he charged Bava to prepare a plan
of campaign, and the general suggested the blockade of
Mantua.
I saw Bava several times while he was working at his
plan and made objections to it, partly on strategical
grounds, but chiefly on account of the time of year,
which in that marshy country would be fatal to the
health of our troops. However, he persisted in his idea,
and gave me a copy of his plan for the Duke of Savoy,
who, remembering how his proposal to prevent Nugent’s
juncture with Radetzky had been received, refused to look
at it, determined never to speak about the conduct of the
war with his father.
Charles Albert resolved to execute Bava’s design, but
declined to recall the troops from Rivoli to form a second
line and strengthen our weak centre. Never was a position
so ill chosen or so contrary to military tactics as ours in
July 1848. From the extreme right to the extreme left
our line covered thirty-one miles ; our right, near Mantua,
was strong, our centre weak, and our left too far off to
render any help.
Bava had command of the right wing, consisting of
from 30,000 to 36,000 men, soon reinforced by the arrival
of General Perrone with his Lombard division of 9000;
the left, under De Sonnaz, extended from Sommacam-
pagna to Rivoli, and numbered little more than 15,000;
1 One of the chief conditions imposed by the Austrians was not to bear
arms against them during the war.
BLOCKADE OF MANTUA 79
in the centre, between Peschiera and Goito, was Broglia’s
division of about 10,000 to 12,000 men.
On the 13th July the blockade of Mantua began, the
divisions of the Dukes of Savoy and Genoa being
stationed between Roverbella and Castel Belforte.
The king’s headquarters were at Marmirolo, ours at
Roverbella, with rice fields to our left. The soldiers slept
on the damp ground, the duke with his officers on straw
in a miserable hut. In the early morning, when the vévez//e
sounded, the fog was so dense over the fields that when
we passed the men in review at a little distance we only
saw their heads and shoulders. They looked like an army
of busts.
On the 23d July we heard cannonading in the direction
of Sona and Sommacampagna. Sent by the duke to Mar-
mirolo to ask for orders from General Salasco, he told me
the army was to concentrate at Villafranca, charging me
to send word also to the Duke of Genoa. I ventured to
suggest that Villafranca was not a fortunate choice, but
Salasco brusquely repeated his orders.
‘At mid-day the division d’Arvillars, that of Victor
Emanuel, and half the division of the Duke of Genoa,
were marching towards Villafranca. Before leaving, the
duke, with La Marmora, went to the king, and the latter
made the same observation about Villafranca to Charles
Albert as I had to Salasco, with the same result. On
the way he again said that not Villafranca but Valeggio,
a good defensive position, being surrounded by hills,
would form an excellent support to the army. The king
curtly replied, ‘We go where the enemy’s cannon calls us,’
An excellent answer for whoso wishes to see a battlefield,
but not for one who has to lead an army and place it in
a position adapted for defence.
A few hours later, having driven our left wing beyond
Peschiera, and our centre across the Mincio, Radetzky took
80 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
Valeggio. Fortifying himself there, he established his
right wing, extending it past Custoza to Sommacampagna.
He strongly occupied Monte Torre and Staffalo, opposite
Villafranca, where the king had insisted on placing himself.
Officers and men passed the night ready for the battle,
which might begin at any moment. Charles Albert, irreso-
lute and hesitating, was anxiously awaiting the arrival of
Bava, who was at Governolo, where he fought a brilliant
action on the 17th and 18th, and could not reach Villa-
franca before 9.30 on the morning of the 24th. He
showed great abnegation, unacquainted as he was with
the position of the troops, in accepting the supreme com-
mand, immediately handed over to him.
All the hills opposite Villafranca, from Monte Torre
to Staffalo and Berrettara, were occupied by the Austrians,
so near to us that we saw them without glasses. Bava
determined on an immediate attack, sent the Duke of
Genoa to Sommacampagna, and ordered the Duke of Savoy
to storm Monte Torre. With splendid dash our brave
fellows rushed the position, and before night the tricolour
flag waved from the heights whence the enemy had been
driven.
The haste with which we had raised the blockade of
Mantua and the usual improvidence and irregularity of
headquarters in imparting orders, reacted on the com-
missariat. Hardly any rations reached us during the
night, and the men had not sufficient food to carry them
through the second day’s struggle on the heights of
Custoza.
On the 25th our line of battle extended from Somma-
campagna to Valeggio, the centre being occupied by our
division. We were to attack the Austrian centre at Cus-
toza; the Duke of Genoa to recapture Sommacampagna ;
and the king, with Bava, intended to drive the enemy from
Valeggio.
BATTLE OF CUSTOZA 81
At daybreak the Duke of Savoy left Monte Torre for
Custoza, expecting to find the enemy. They were, how-
ever, drawn up at the foot of the heights which they had
abandoned during the night. Victor Emanuel took up
his position on the highest point, above a castle flanked by
a group of cypress trees forming part of the large park,
and I extended the line of the two brigades so as to keep
in touch with the Duke of Genoa on one side and the
troops on the Valeggio road on the other. About II a.m.
the Austrians advanced in strong force and attacked the
heights towards Berrettara, aiming especially at our front,
defended by artillery to the right and left of the cypress
wood. Heavy cannonading was followed by repeated
charges of infantry, gallantly repulsed by our men.
The heat was intense. Not a drop of water could be
found on the top of the hill, and the morning’s rations had
been infinitesimal. Our men dropped from fatigue, sun-
stroke, hunger, and thirst, so that after a few hours’ fight-
ing the companies were reduced from two hundred men to
fifty or sixty. From the furious and repeated attacks of
the enemy the duke and I concluded that he intended,
at any cost, to carry our position, and thus cut our army
in two, facilitating his operations under Valeggio and at
Sommacampagna, or, at least, enabling him to cut off the
retreat of the Duke of Genoa’s division.
At 1°30 Victor Emanuel sent me to headquarters to
say that without immediate reinforcements our position
could not be held. The heat was suffocating, and I could
not resist drinking at the first rivulet, dirty though it was.
In twenty minutes I found Bava, who, with the king, was
in a field within range of the enemy’s guns. » At the same
moment a messenger came with a note from De Sonnaz.
His troops had fought on the 22d at Rivoli, on the 23d at
Sona and Santa Giustina, and after leaving Peschiera, had
marched for over twelve hours with the intention of reach-
F
82 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN —
ing Borghetto or Volta about 5 p.m., and falling on the
enemy’s rear. On reading this Bava exhorted me to use
every effort to hold out, as not only could he not send us help,
but he was anxiously expecting it himself from De Sonnaz.
With this answer I galloped back to Custoza a little before
3 p.m. The enemy’s cannon was sweeping our position ;
we saw them below preparing for a fresh assault, and our.
companies were reduced by one-half! I had all the doors
and shutters of the castle taken down to serve as litters
to transport the wounded, as fast as they fell, to Villafranca.
The duke determined to go in person and tell Bava and
the king that unless reinforcements were sent we should
have to evacuate Custoza before we succumbed to the ever
increasing Austrian forces. He handed the command
of the division over to me, and only a few minutes after
his departure we were vehemently attacked. Once more,
shouting ‘ Savoza, we drove the enemy down the hill at
the point of the bayonet.
The Austrians, unaware how small our force was, pro-
bably thought that, like their own, it had been renewed ;
so at 4°30 we were still masters of the position. Im-
patiently I awaited the return of the duke, but while
continuing preparations to resist I got ready for a retreat
on Gherla, which seemed to meinevitable. Fresh Austrian
columns were seen advancing, when Count Zamojsky, a
Pole in the suite of Charles Albert, galloped up with the
order to retire. Being prepared, we were able to withdraw
before the arrival of the enemy, who only found an aban-
doned position. Worn out, they did not follow us, and the
division, ranged in order of battle on the plain of Gherla,
was joined by the duke, with orders to protect the retreat
of all the troops coming from Valeggio. Our retreat was
undisturbed, save by a few detachments of cavalry. Even
the Austrians did not know how to follow up a victory!
The battle was lost for want of men. Had the division,
RETREAT ON GOITO 83
uselessly left behind at Mantua, been brought up, reinforce-
ments might have been sent to the divisions of the Dukes
of Savoy and Genoa, and to the force before Valeggio.
Late in the evening we reached Villafranca, and abun-
dant rations were distributed to prepare the men for the
march and expected battle next day. The duke and I,
tired out, lay down in a freshly-ploughed field; it rained
all night, but we slept too well to feel it, and were wet
through and stiff next morning. There was, however, no
time to think of myself, as our division had to protect the
rear during the retreat on Goito. I was extremely anxious,
as I expected the enemy would attack our flank from
Valeggio, or our rear guard. But Radetzky let slip the
opportunity to crush us, and our flank was only attacked
once by cavalry, easily repulsed.
To our surprise, on crossing the Mincio, where we took
up a position fronting the river, we found De Sonnaz, with
his men utterly exhausted. It was reported that, on reach-
ing Volta much later than he expected, he found orders
leaving it to his judgment to hold the place or abandon it.
He chose the latter course; why, I never knew. The king
was very angry, as the Austrians occupied Volta the instant
De Sonnaz left, and curtly bade him go back and re-take
the position.
He left about 6 p.m. with the brigade Savoia, on the
promise that the brigade Regina should follow soon. The
attack was made at night, and half way up the hill the
confusion was terrible—so great, that our men killed each
other in the dark. Nevertheless, they got to the summit
and reached the piazza in front of the church. Here the Aus-
trians, pouring out of every street, overpowered and drove
them back, the promised brigade never having arrived.
The return of these beaten troops had a most dis-
heartening effect on the rest, who, that very morning,
had seen contractors, civil servants, representatives of pro-
84 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A. VETERAN
visional governments, and country folk, flying panic-stricken
at the announcement of the Austrian successes. ,
Supplies failed entirely on the 27th. The staff had
nothing but green cobs of maize gathered in the fields,
which they dipped in brandy and water. Inthe evening the
army was so demoralised that the king called a council of
generals for 8 o’clock next morning to propose a suspension
of hostilities. Seeing La Marmora, as chief of the staff to
the Duke of Genoa, preparing to attend the council, I was
going to accompany the Duke of Savoy, when Bava called
me. Expecting to be engaged for some time, he put me
in command of all the troops round Goito, with orders to
place part in line of battle in case of an attack, and at the
same time to make preparations for a probable imminent
retreat.
While I was carrying out his orders, the Generals Bes
and Rossi, with La Marmora, who knew some of the Aus-
trian commanders, were sent to the enemy’s headquarters.
Radetzky’s conditions were peremptory. The king must
retire beyond the Adda, give back Peschiera, recall his
troops from the Duchies, and immediately treat for peace.
Without hesitation the king refused.
When Bava joined me, I told him everything was ready
for retreating across the Po, which seemed our wisest course.
By putting the river between us and the enemy, and pre-
paring to be ready at any moment to attack his flank, we
prevented his advance on Milan. For this reason I had
already sent several columns towards Borgoforte.
‘You are perfectly right, he exclaimed. ‘But every-
thing must be changed. The king is absolutely determined
to retire on Milan. ‘Then,’ I replied, ‘we shall draw the
enemy on, and be powerless to impede or even repel him,’
‘I know,’ said Bava; ‘but the king thinks it his duty to
become the paladin of the Milanese and lead his army
under their walls. A chivalrous idea, if you like; but
RETREAT ON MILAN 85
it will probably be our ruin, and he will not understand
this.’
From the Mincio we retreated to the Oglio the king,
with the Ist corps, marching towards Bozzolo; and on the
morning of the 30th the army was under Cremona, which
Charles Albert had thought of defending. When he ex-
amined the environs of the city, he saw it was impossible.
At Grotta d’Adda the army crossed the river (Adda)
on a bridge of boats thrown over during the night. The
division of the Duke of Savoy formed the rearguard, and
the bridge was broken up before the Austrians arrived.
Charles Albert’s intention was to defend the line of the
Adda as far as Lodi. Two excellent brigades, three bat-
teries, and three squadrons of cavalry had been sent there
by Bava, under a general who was to be reinforced by the
Lombard division. On the 1st August we heard that the
Austrians, protected by the fire of an admirably placed
battery, were throwing a bridge over the Adda opposite
our position, and that the general, convinced he would not
be able to resist, had retreated on Piacenza. This desertion
of his post displaced our right wing and exposed our army
‘to be taken in the rear. The general probably thought, as
did many others, that the army would retreat on Piacenza ;
but his orders were precise, and by not carrying them out
he placed us under the necessity of retiring beyond the
Adda towards Milan.
Our division left Grotta d’Adda for Codogno, where we
hoped to pass the night ; but orders came to continue the
march towards S. Angelo and Borghetto. All that night,
all next morning, and all through the hottest hours of that
sultry 2d of August, our poor soldiers tramped on towards
Milan. On the 3d we were in the suburbs. Bava disposed
the troops in a semi-circle, extending from Chiesarossa and
Naviglio di Pavia on the right to Porta Orientale on the
left. The division of the Duke of Savoy was encamped
86 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
on the bastions of Porta Renza (now Porta Venezia),
reaching beyond Porta Romana. The king established his
headquarters in a small inn at S. Giorgio outside Porta
Romana. To defend the Milanese, Charles Albert had
placed the army in jeopardy, and staked his kingdom and
throne. Believing in the fine promises of the Lombard repre-
sentatives, he had come to Milan expecting to find the city
fortified and well provisioned. On his arrival, Generals
Chiodo and Rossi, who had preceded us, met him with the
news that no preparations had been made for the troops.
The city was silent and deserted ; the few inhabitants who
remained were cold, disappointed, and reproachful.
At daybreak on the 4th the large Austrian army came
in sight, and the first shots were fired about Ioa.m. The king
at once, as though he courted death, threw himself in the
thickest of the fight. The Porta Romana had been barri-
caded, and from the bastions the Grenadiers kept the enemy
at bay till the evening, when they gained ground, and at
nightfall had advanced close under the ramparts. S.
Giorgio, the headquarters of the king, was in the line occu-
pied by them, so he was forced to enter the city, and took
up his abode in the Greppi Palace.
The duke and I, after visiting Charles Albert, returned
to our men and passed the night on a heap of stones by
the roadside. Meanwhile the king, by the advice of some
of the generals summoned to a hasty council, had sent
two of them to Radetzky late in the evening, offering to
surrender the city on the condition that the lives and pro-
perty of the inhabitants should be respected, and that the
Sardinian army was allowed to retire unmolested to the
right bank of the Ticino. Radetzky immediately accepted
the offer made by Charles Albert under the stress of dire
necessity. The main park of artillery had been sent to
Piacenza; the provisions of the smaller parks had been
exhausted during the battle; there was no ammunition
CAPITULATION OF MILAN 87
in the city, and very little powder. The supply of pro-
visions was barely sufficient for three days, and no
preparations had been made by the provisional govern-
ment of Milan for defending the town or victualling the
army. Resistance was therefore impossible.
As soon as the terrible news of the capitulation was
known the whole city rose. Incited by the Mazzinian
Republicans and the Anarchists, a howling mob assembled
round the Greppi Palace, hurling abuse at the king and
his officers.
Towards mid-day I begged the duke to allow me to
take a battalion and liberate the king. Knowing the usual
cowardice of a mob, I was sure the sight of our Grenadiers
would be sufficient to disperse them. But the duke re-
fused, fearing lest maddened by the sight of the troops,
they might invade the Greppi Palace, abandoned by the
Civic Guard, and endanger the life of the king.
With great difficulty Bava escaped out of the palace
in the afternoon, and came to concert with the Duke of
Savoy what measures to take in case the enemy, hearing
of our internal discords, should attempt an attack. He
said the Duke of Genoa, who went to see his father, was
imprisoned with him, and that the mob had fired at the
windows of the palace and at the balcony when the king
showed himself; while those inside left him no peace, and
at last induced him to say, ‘Well, as you desire it, we
will continue the struggle.’
Continue the struggle! Without artillery, money, or
food, and after an armistice had been asked for and
granted! Yet even Bava, to whom Charles Albert
turned for advice, had answered that war with the
Austrians was preferable to tearing each other to pieces
under their eyes.
At nightfall, when the city seemed calmer, Victor
Emanuel allowed me to go with a battalion of Grenadiers
88 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
to the king’s aid. I took Lieutenant Piati, a Veronese, with
me, as he knew Milan well and could guide us by side
streets. At Porta Renza we heard that Colonel La Marmora,
with a company of Bersaglieri, had just left on the same
errand as ourselves, and determined to take an opposite
direction in order, if necessary, to take the mob between
two fires.
We arrived at the Greppi Palace as the king crossed
the threshold. He was on foot, deadly pale, and aged in
face and figure. He held his sword tight under his arm,
and, when he saw me, said, ‘Ah, mon cher La Rocca,
quelle journée, quelle journée.’
I shall never forget the tone of his voice.
He ordered me to tell his son to come and meet him, and
when I returned with the duke we found Bava, who had also
brought troops. These, with the Grenadiers and Bersaglieri,
formed an escort; and Bava begged the king to take a
few hours’ rest at his quarters in the Calchi-Taeggi College.
The duke and I then returned to ours—the heap of stones
by the roadside.
At daybreak the king mounted his horse and, followed
by the army, left the city by Porta Vercellina. Taking
three different roads, we began the march towards Pied-
mont.
The Austrians entered Milan on the 6th, the city being
made over to them by Major Robert Morozzo, my brother,
commanding one of the two battalions of the Grenadier
Guards, which had been left in charge outside Porta
Romana.
PaAPTER VITI
END OF 1848. BEGINNING OF 1849
Vigevano—Armistice signed at Milan—General Bava’s Account of the Cam-
paign—lIs dismissed and succeeded by General Czarnowsky—His Plans
—I am named Major-General—Our Retreat on Novara—Hard Fight-
ing at Bicocca—We are driven back on Novara—Charles Albert
abdicates—Victor Emanuel becomes King—I rally Fugitives—Am
called to Turin by Victor Emanuel, and become Minister of War.
OuR division left Milan for Vigevano, followed by all
those who had participated in the ‘five days’! of March,
and the revolutionary movements of the following months,
or who had fought in our ranks as volunteers. So little
did they trust the promises of the Austrians, that they
preferred condemning their families to exile. Women and
small children were seated on the artillery waggons and
even on the cannon, and the burning August sun added
to the misery of our march. But, once across the river,
things changed for the better. We were at home. At
Vigevano one of the best houses had been assigned to
the duke and his staff, and as soon as I could leave him
I went in search of a haberdasher’s shop. In the con-
fusion of the last few days our baggage had disappeared,
- On the 18th March the Revolution burst out in Milan. During the
night of the 19th seventeen hundred barricades were erected in the streets ;
on the 21st the palaces of the viceroy and of the police, and the cathedral fell
into the hands of the people. There was fighting in every street, and the
Croats committed horrible outrages on women and children. On the night
of the 22d the citadel was set on fire by the Austrians, and Radetzky quitted
the city with his troops.—7Zvans/lator’s Note.
89
gO AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
and since my arrival on the ramparts of Milan I had not
changed my clothes. The sensation of a clean shirt was
delightful.
As soon as the king arrived he was besieged by
deputations and politicians ; everyone wanted to condole,
advise and suggest. Casati, President of the Council, and
Count Borromeo visited the king to express, in the name
of many Milanese, their sorrow at the scenes which had
occurred under his windows; and the king assured them
that he believed the mob was composed of strangers
directed by the Republican party. Be that as it may,
I am impartial enough to understand the anger of the
Milanese at seeing their city once more in the possession
of the Austrians, whom they had driven out five months
before. Still, they had no. right to lay the whole blame
on Charles Albert and the Piedmontese army, in which, I
must confess, there existed deep and undisguised indig-
nation against the Lombards.
The armistice was signed at Milan on the 9th August.
Charles Albert relinquished Peschiera, Lombardy, Parma,
Piacenza, Modena and Venice, from which places all
Italian troops were to be immediately withdrawn. The
armistice was to last six weeks, with power to prolong
it indefinitely by mutual assent, or to renew hostilities
after a week’s warning.
The king transferred his headquarters from Vigevano
to Alessandria, and soon after went to Turin, leaving
Bava in supreme command. The Duke of Savoy had
established his headquarters at Valenza for the winter,
and sent me almost daily to confer with the commander-
in-chief, who knew and liked me, treating me as a friend
rather than a subordinate. Bava was profoundly hurt by
the criticisms and accusations of the common herd,
which made no allowances for his exceptional position
with Charles Albert, who often obliged him, as at
| SEARCHING FOR A COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 91
Custoza, to assume the command of an army already
placed by others in a badly chosen position.
The ministry—Alfieri, Revel, Pinelli, with General
Dabormida as minister of war—and those immediately
round the king, suggested that the commander of the
next campaign should be one who had held no command
in the last war, or, better still, a foreigner. Marshal
Bugeaud, who had distinguished himself in Africa, was
mentioned ; failing him, Changarnier or Lamoriciére, and
so on, down to the youngest of the French generals.
Alphonse La Marmora, a great friend of Dabormida,
accepted the arduous task of going to beg a commander
for a beaten and disheartened army, whose confidence
in its old commanders was thus utterly destroyed. His
mission was a failure; and before he returned to Turin
a new ministry, with Gioberti at its head, was in power—
the third since the armistice.
General Czarnowsky, a Pole, was sent to Alessandria
as chief of the staff to Bava, who said to me next day,
‘They have sent me a Pole, a perfect monkey, small,
ugly, with the voice of an eunuch, as chief of the staff, in
case hostilities should be resumed. You, who know what
the duties of a head of the staff are, can perhaps tell me
what I am to do with a foreigner who does not know the
country, the language, the officers, or the men.’
Soon after the storm burst, which Bava drew upon
himself by publishing his account of the campaign of
1848, written in reply to a circular from the minister of
war, Dabormida, to all the generals in command. I also
received one, and related the general movements of our
division, and the actions at Pastrengo and Custoza led by
myself. The duke signed the former, I the latter.
Bava’s relation created considerable sensation, and
was blamed for the extreme severity of some of his
criticisms on soldiers and officers. The scandal deter-
g2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
mined the ministry to take a step which had already
been mooted. The minister of war ordered him to hand
over the command to General Czarnowsky, and at the
same time Gioberti, President of the Council, wrote a
private letter, expressing sorrow at being obliged to
dispense with his services on account of the stir made
by his book.
Gioberti’s ministry fell a few days later, to be replaced
by one in favour of war at any cost. General Chiodo,
one of the first pupils of the polytechnic school instituted
by the French, was President of the Council with the
portfolios of War and Marine. He knew little about
military matters, and, like the rest of his party, chiefly
lawyers, thought everything must go well with a foreigner
as commander-in-chief. Czarnowsky was proposed to the
king by his countryman Zamojsky, whom I have already
mentioned during the campaign of 1848. Had he pos-
sessed all the military qualities which he lacked, he
would have failed in reorganising such an army as ours
then was, composed of discordant elements, and unpre-
pared for entering on a campaign. The ministry which
pushed king and nation into war assumed a tremendous
responsibility. They risked the future, not only of Italy,
but of Piedmont, which, once our troops were annihilated,
might have ceased to be a European state, and become a
Lombard province of the Austrian empire.
Recruits had been trained during the armistice, volun-
teers had joined from Lombardy and other parts of Italy,
and the regiments had been augmented from eighteen
to twenty-three; but everything was in disorder, all
ranks were disheartened and utterly averse to renewed
hostilities. Ten or more generals had left the service,
and there was a dearth of officers to instruct the raw
troops.
A few days after General Czarnowsky assumed the
THE ARMISTICE IS DENOUNCED. 93
command he came to Valenza to pay his respects to the
heir of the throne. The duke sent me to receive the
general while he finished some work he had on hand,
and my reception was not a warm one. [| liked and
esteemed Bava, and the presence of this Pole as com-
- mander-in-chief of Piedmontese troops seemed to me a
gratuitous insult to the army I belonged to. He did
not notice my coldness, and at once began to talk
about his plans for the approaching campaign. I soon
saw that he would repeat the errors which had already
been committed on the Mincio—too extended a posi-
tion and a lack of reserves. He talked of occupying
the right bank of the Ticino, from the Po under Pavia
to the Lago Maggiore, and of sending small detachments
on to the right bank of the Po to confront the Austrians
in case they tried to enter Piedmont; but all was based
on the idea that they would start from Milan. As he
spoke I had a presentiment of coming misfortune,
and he said, ‘Vous n’avez pas lair d’approuver mes
projets. I had barely answered, ‘Il ne m/appartient
pas de les critiquer,’ when he was summoned by the
duke, to whom he repeated the same story. It was
like a lesson learned by heart, which he recited to all
those he thought had any authority. If they talked
about it to others it was more than likely that Radetzky
knew the whole plan before the campaign began.
On the 12th March 1849 Major R. Cadorna was sent
to denounce the armistice for the 20th. On the 16th
I was summoned by the king to Alessandria, where he
had just arrived with the new commander-in-chief. His
Majesty told me I had been named major-general in
command of the brigade Acqui, composed of the 17th
and 23d regiments. I bowed my thanks, but begged
to be allowed to refuse promotion, and to remain with
the duke. The king frowned and insisted. So miserable
94 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
was I at the thought of leaving Victor Emanuel just as
war was declared, that I ventured to express my fears
for the issue of the campaign. Charles Albert listened
and replied, ‘Vous vous trompez, tout ira bien. C’est
moi qui vous le dit’. And as I again begged not to be
promoted, ‘Plus un mot. Allez tout de suite prendre
le commandement de votre brigade; je vous |’ordonne.’
On paper our army consisted of over one hundred and
twenty thousand men, but our real number was under
eighty thousand, while Radetzky had ninety thousand.
At mid-day on the 20th March, Czarnowsky, absolutely
ignorant of the enemy’s movements, but having made up
his mind that they would march towards Magenta, crossed
the Mincio in that direction with Charles Albert. Instead
of the Austrian outposts he expected, only terrified and
discontented inhabitants were seen, who reported that
large masses of Austrian troops had gone towards Pavia
some days before. In fact, at that very hour, 60,000
Austrians were passing the Ticino on three bridges to
occupy Piedmontese territory in the direction of Mortara.
Only a few troops of the Lombard division confronted
this invasion, among them the battalion of students from
Milan and Triest, who, under Lucien Manara, defended
the position of Cava with the greatest bravery. On the
17th General Ramorino had already received orders to
place the whole Lombard division on the left bank of the
Po; but he disobeyed, and kept his men on the right.
I reached Montara early on the 21st, and found the
troops in marching order. My brigade was in column, so,
instead of putting them in line to receive me as is the
custom, Bes rode with me through the ranks to introduce
me to my men. Their appearance was satisfactory ; one
regiment was composed of old soldiers, the other of
recruits instructed by Colonel Cialdini. After a short
march, Austrian outposts were reported; so, skirting Vige-
RETREAT ON NOVARA 95
vano, we entered a large farm surrounded by walls, which
we proceeded to loophole, while Bes drew up the division
in order of battle, to arrest, partially at all events, the
enemy’s advance on Mortara. My brigade was thus in
the first line of the attack, to which the 17th opposed a
steady and gallant resistance. The 23d charged the
enemy’s infantry with the bayonet, but as they tried to
surround us, I ordered my men to form squares. In one
of these the major fell mortally wounded, and the flagstaff
was broken. In an instant the square broke. Cialdini
and I threw ourselves among the men, and by dint of
blows with the flat of our swords stopped their flight. It
was a momentary thing, and the men fought well after-
wards. Late in the afternoon the brigade Casale, which
had lost its way, came to our aid, and the brigade Savoia,
excellent troops, and so full of dash that notwithstand-
ing the large reinforcements perpetually received by the
enemy, we had hopes of converting an undecisive but
brilliant action into a great victory. But Czarnowsky, with
Charles Albert, came from Vigevano and decided the
decisive action had better be fought next day. At the
same time, bad news came from Mortara, where the
divisions of Durando and the Duke of Savoy had been
beaten. Fearing to be taken in the rear, Czarnowsky
resolved on retreating towards Novara, where he sent
fifty thousand men to cut Radetzky’s road. We passed —
the night on the farm, and Charles Albert insisted on
sleeping in the midst of the Savoy brigade on the bare
ground. I suppose he was very tired, for he slept so pro-
foundly that the constant passage of officers and men, who
came to look at his tall, fateful figure and worn, pale face,
did not wake him.
A little after dawn on the 22d March we began our
march on Novara, and only arrived under the walls of the
town at nightfall. On the way I had to pass, at the head
96 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A. VETERAN
of my brigade, before the king and Czarnowsky. In spite
of the change of uniform, Charles Albert recognised me at
once and, with the old gesture used at Racconigi years
ago, beckoned me to his side. Complimenting me on the
behaviour of my men the previous day, he continued, ‘Ne
vous avais-je pas dit a Alexandrie, La Rocca, que tout ~
irait bien?’ These were the last words I heard Charles
Albert speak, and it was the last time I saw him, For
many years he was a strange enigma to me and to many
about him. Only in 1847 did we begin to have an inkling
of the true reason for his contradictory conduct—a fixed
resolution to free Italy from the Austrian rule; a resolu-
tion carefully hid from others, because he did not think
the time for acting had yet come.
We camped under the walls of Novara, and at dawn
the army was in order of battle. The Duke of Savoy
passed close to me on the way to his position, riding a
wretched horse belonging to his household. On seeing
me he exclaimed, ‘You don’t know how I wished for you
yesterday. We were utterly beaten at Mortara; all my
equipage and my horses were taken, so I had to send for
this brute, in order not to lead the troops on foot. Let us
hope to-day will not be a repetition of yesterday,’ I did
not see him again for five days, when, after our defeat and
the abdication of Charles Albert, he sent for me at Turin
to entrust me with the Ministry for War.
On the 23d March about fifty thousand men were
drawn up in order of battle a kilometre to the south of
Novara. Three divisions in two lines covered three kilo-
metres—Durano on the right, Perrone on the left, and Bes,
to which my brigade ‘belonged, in the centre. Some
battalions of sharp-shooters covered my front. The
divisions of the Duke of Genoa and the Duke of Savoy
were in reserve, the first on the high land behind Bicocca,
a small village on the very summit of the hill; the second,
HARD FIGHTING AT BICOCCA 97
behind Durazzo, was stationed between the place d’armes
and the road to Vercelli. Our position could only be
turned at a considerable distance towards Trecate or
Vercelli. The disposition of our troops was excellent;
but, as in 1848, and later in 1866, the quarter-master-
general’s staff was absolutely in the dark as to the move-
ments of the enemy.
Both Radetzky and Czarnowsky had the same design
of concentrating their troops between Novara and Vercelli,
but we had outmarched the Austrians on the 22d; so
their first troops, under General d’Aspre, who had no idea
how large our force was, only appeared in sight about
10 am. in the direction of Olengo. He deployed the
division of the Archduke Albert in front of our left at
Bicocca, and in front of Perrone’s division; then, seeing
how numerous his adversary was, sent in haste to warn
Radetzky and ask for reinforcements. Czarnowsky, on the
contrary, never noticed the smallness of the Austrian force,
and, instead of immediately assuming the offensive, stood
on the defensive, and only pushed forward by degrees the
troops of the divisions of the Duke of Genoa and Perrone
towards Bicocca. |
_ The Piedmontese army opposed a stolid resistance to
the enemy’s attack; and Bicocca was lost and retaken five
times. General Passalaqua, commanding the Piedmont
brigade, wrested several positions from the Austrian, and
fell mortally wounded, while the Duke of Genoa had three
horses killed under him. The enemy was driven out of
Olengo, and at 2 p.m. d’Aspre, not having yet been rein-
forced, retired from all his positions. About an hour later,
his reinforcements began to arrive in small quantities, when
Czarnowsky ought to have attacked vigorously and driven
the enemy back across the Ticino. But he stood the
whole day on the defensive, moving forward small bodies
of troops at intervals. Not only did he let slip the favour-
G
98 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
able moment, but he recalled the Duke of Genoa, who
had driven d’Aspre beyond Castellazzo. This mistaken
movement gave fresh courage to the Austrian general, who
immediately reoccupied Castellazzo. At that moment
General Perrone, encouraging part of his division, which
had given way, to advance, received the wound of which
he died two days later. |
The Austrians were gradually gaining ground when
Czarnowsky ordered up two regiments of the reserve, and
one (the 17th) of our division, and again the enemy was
forced to retire. But General Thurn now came up with
large reinforcements. Crossing by the Bridge of Agogna,
where only one detachment of cavalry was posted,
Colonel Montevecchio was unable to stop the advance of
so large a force. Radetzky, who was on a small hill on
the Mortara road, watching the battle, sent orders to attack
Bicocca vigorously in front, and only then did Czarnowsky
resolve to move forward on the front and right. While
Bes and Durando pushed back the weak body of Austrians
that fronted them, Czarnowsky hastened towards Bicocca.
But the enemy had already taken Castellazzo and the
surrounding positions, and entered Bicocca. In vain
Czarnowsky attempted to reconquer it; in vain the Duke
of Genoa, who having had his horses killed under him
was fighting on foot, made a desperate effort with only
three battalions; Bicocca had to be abandoned to the
enemy. Our army, attacked in front and on both flanks,
was driven back on Novara. The crush and confusion at
the city gate was terrible, of which, fortunately, the enemy
_ did not take advantage, but, halting at some distance from
the walls, bivouacked for the night under pouring rain. By
the defeat of our left, the centre and the right were placed
in a most perilous position, so Colonel Alexander La Mar-
mora (chief of the staff) took it on himself to order a retreat
before receiving orders from Czarnowsky. The engage-
ABDICATION OF CHARLES ALBERT 99
ment of our division had hardly begun when the aide-de-
camp of Czarnowsky came to tell Bes to retire. ‘In what
direction ?’ asked the general. ‘I don’t know,’ was the
answer. Bes consulted with us and replied, ‘Tell whoever
sent you that I shall retreat in the direction of the Agogna,
and thence to the province of Biella.’ Then, turning to me,
he added, ‘ Will you, who only left the staff a few days ago,
resume your old functions for the moment and be our
euide?’ I accepted and, taking a battalion of infantry, a
squadron of cavalry, a battery of artillery and a company
of Bersaglieri, reconnoitered in the direction of Romagnano.
‘TI will collect one division, said Bes, ‘and before long will
join you.’ At about 8 p.m. the body of the army retreated
in dire confusion. The soldiers, who had eaten nothing all
day, dispersed in the city, sacking the bakers’ shops and
eating-houses. Our defeat was utter. Charles Albert, who,
towards the end of the day, had in vain courted death, by
exposing himself to the enemy’s fire on the old city bas-
tions, was taken almost by force by General G. Durando, his
aide-de-camp, to the headquarters. There he called a few
generals, the minister Cadorna, and the representatives of
the provisional governments who were in camp, and laid
Marshal Radetzky’s hard conditions before them. The
king could not bring himself to accept them, so resolved to
abdicate in favour of his son Victor Emanuel, hoping that
he might succeed in obtaining better terms. That same
night Charles Albert left with a passport in the name of
Count of Barge, accompanied by a cabinet courier and a
valet.
I was meanwhile proceeding in the direction of Biella
with about eight hundred infantry and two hundred cavalry.
After an hour’s march on the road leading to Romagnano
I halted to give the division time to come up. Fugitives of
every arm were perpetually passing, flying more for want
of a leader than from fear, With the aid of Captain Cugia, I
100 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
stopped and rallied them, and in a few hours found myself
at the head of several thousand. At last Bes arrived, but
without the troops and without his head of the staff, who
had remained behind to guide the division. We waited for
them in vain. By Czarnowsky’s orders they had entered
Novara, surrounded on three sides by the enemy, and thence
retreated to Momo. At daybreak we reached Romagnano,
fed our men as well as we could, and at mid-day we arrived
at Biella, where Bes called a council of war of all the officers
to deliberate on what we should do, Opinions differed ;
some proposed returning to Novara, others to march to
Turin, while Bes wished to gain the Val d’Aosta in Savoy,
and raise the population to fight the Austrians. He made
sure that the army had laid down their arms, and that the
whole country behind us was in the hands of the enemy.
From the first I had advocated the necessity of recon-
noitering to find out what had happened in our rear, and
at last offered to go myself. Our horses were worn out, so,
with the help of the syndic, I got a small gig with a bad
horse, and, with Major d’Auvare, returned by the road we
had come by. It was snowing hard, and after some hours
we met, near Cossato, the regiment of Novara cavalry under
Colonel Maffei. He reported Austrian troops a little to
his rear, and that we should be taken prisoners if we went
further. Returning to Biella, we found that Bes had
already left taking our horses with him. So, leaving our
vehicle, we set out on foot for Ivrea, and made our report
to the general, who, convinced that the army was utterly
beaten, decided we ought to march directly on Turin to
defend the capital.
We had collected over seven thousand men during our
retreat, and at Castellamonte, where we halted for the night,
the syndic gave us notice that Charles Albert had abdicated,
and Victor Emanuel been named his successor to the
throne. Bes immediately handed over the command to
I BECOME MINISTER OF WAR 101
me, with directions to go to the Veneria and await his
orders, saying, rather mysteriously, that political events
called him to Turin. At Biella and Ivrea, I had noticed
that the general was surrounded by men belonging to the
Democratic party, and supposed they wanted him to enter
into some ministerial combination. On the 26th I reached
the Veneria with my defeated troops, and soon after our
arrival a royal courier brought a letter from the new
king, Victor Emanuel, calling me to Turin. At the royal
palace I found several officers by whom the portfolio of
war and marine had been refused. The king greeted me
with great cordiality, described the scene of his father’s
abdication and the conditions of the armistice, and told
me of his meeting at Vignale with Radetzky, and his
return to, and glacial reception at, Turin. He found that
the Chambers, ignorant of the disastrous events of Novara,
had sat all night, and taken upon themselves to decide the
fate of the country and oblige the nation to continue the
war. Victor Emanuel did not appear the least affected by
the unfavourable aspect of affairs. He had been trying
to form a ministry, but could get no one to accept the
portfolio of war. Knowing my devotion to himself, he
begged me to undertake the ungrateful task. I was not
afraid of the responsibility, or of the official work of a
ministry, but the idea of having to present myself before
the Chambers was most alarming. Victor Emanuel said
he was goifig to dissolve Parliament and appeal to the
country, so the Chambers could not meet again for two
or three months. Again begging me to accept, at all
events for the moment, he added that if I found the work
distasteful we could then look for a successor. Under
these conditions I accepted.
CHAPTER, IX
1849—Contenued
The First Ministry of King Victor Emanuel—Stormy Scene in the Chambers
—Revolt in Genoa—Disbanding the Lombard Legion — General
Ramorino condemned and shot—Victor Emanuel and Radetzky meet—
Negotiations for Peace—D’Azeglio becomes Prime Minister—Peace is
ratified—Death of Charles Albert—I leave the Ministry and marry.
GENERAL COUNT DE LAUNAY, the head of the first
ministry of Victor Emanuel, had been recommended for the
‘post by Charles Albert when he abdicated. A Liberal in
politics, he was a man of good common sense and great
determination, a perfect gentleman, and devoted to the
House of Savoy. The other members of the Cabinet were
Pinelli, a lawyer, who had been a minister before; Nigra,
the banker, well known as the most honest of men; C.
Mameli, De Margherita, F. Galvagno and myself. On
the 28th March the new Cabinet presented itself to the
Chambers. Hostile murmurs greeted De Launay, and
continued as we took our seats on the Ministerial bench;
directed chiefly, as it appeared, against the president’s and
my military uniforms.!| De Launay drew himself up and,
looking straight at Bunico, Vice-President ? of the Chamber,
began to introduce his colleagues. Bunico immediately
1 We had just come from Palazzo Madama, where we accompanied the
king to swear to uphold the Constitution, and had not had time to change our
clothes.
2 Pareto, the president, had gone to Genoa to foment the disorders which
had broken out there against the conclusion of peace.
102
STORMY SCENE IN THE CHAMBERS 103
interrupted him, saying that as he had not asked permission
he could not speak. ‘Then I demand leave to speak,’
answered De Launay, with wonderful calmness. ‘Who
are you?’ replied Bunico. ‘I am General de Launay.
named President of the Council and Minister of Foreign
Affairs by King Victor Emanuel.’ ‘Speak,’ was the curt
answer. De Launay presented us by name; and then
began a series of interpellations on the causes of our
defeat, and the conditions of the armistice were demanded.
Pinelli rose and read them aloud, ‘ Dispersion of the
Lombard legion; the fleet to be withdrawn from the
Adriatic ; our territory between the Po, the Sesia, and the
Ticino to be occupied by the Austrians ; the withdrawal of
our troops from all territory belonging before the war to the
Lombard-Venetian States; and a mixed garrison in the
citadel of Alessandria. Every article was hailed with —
indignant shouts, and insults were hurled at those who
had accepted such conditions. Speeches were made by —
lawyers, who, knowing nothing about military matters, or
about the real state of the country, accused this person or
that of stupidity, incapacity, and even of treachery. One
of them spoke, as it seemed to me, so offensively against
the army, that, forgetting where I was, I sprang up, and
was rushing at him with doubled fists, when Pinelli.gripped
one skirt of my tunic and tore it, so I was obliged to sit
down again. Then rising, with a calmness I envied, he
denied the truth of the deputy’s assertions. The noise,
however, still continued, and Moffa di Lisio, a Democratic
member of Parliament, rose, and in a fine speech declared
that any idea of treachery was out of the question.
Listened to by all, he succeeded in gradually calming the
agitation of the House. But this one sitting sufficed to
confirm my resolution not to form part of a Cabinet
exposed to the insults and varied opinions of members
of Parliament. Not that I am averse to a Constitutional
104 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
government; on the contrary, I always upheld Liberal
institutions ; but my character and my habits were not
those of a politician, who, adapting himself to circumstances,
can rebut false assertions with dignity and calmness, The
habit of always talking the Piedmontese dialect rendered
it difficult for me to speak Italian fluently, and I was
naturally impatient and quick tempered. Brought up as
a soldier, the sword was the only argument I understood.
I was made to serve my country in the army, not in
Parliament, and I hope I have done so conscientiously
and well.
The Chambers were prorogued on the 29th and dis-
solved on the 30th; so, relieved from the nightmare of
another sitting, I began to put the war office in order.
and to reorganise the army. In my department all work
had been suspended ; letters and despatches had been left
unopened for weeks and even months. The military in-
capacity and the negligence of the late ministers and their
subordinates were but too patent; there was no regularity
in the administration, no steps had been taken for feeding
or paying the soldiers, and the sum I found in the chest
was barely sufficient for the expenses of one day.
This was soon remedied by the finance minister, Nigra,
who was able, thanks to his high personal credit on the
principal foreign exchanges, to negotiate a loan on com-
paratively easy terms. Twenty-four hours after I joined
the ministry news of the disturbances in Genoa reached
Turin. The troops, badly led by an old Genoese officer,
had allowed the rebels to seize some of the forts, and it
was imperative to act with energy and stifle a revolution
which might compromise the whole kingdom. I offered
to go at once, and the king accepted, when despatches
arrived announcing that my brother, Casimir, had been
killed at the head of his regiment by a shot from a
window. Of course I withdrew my offer, as every punish-
THE LOMBARD LEGION DISBANDED 105
ment inflicted by me would have had the air of avenging
my brother’s death, and I proposed Alphonse La Marmora,
who reduced the city to order in a few days.. At the
same timie.I was occupied in carrying out one of the
stipulations of the armistice—the disbanding of the Lom-
bard legion, whith had been so miserably betrayed by
Ramorino. Summoned to headquarters on the 20th
March, to explain his disobedience to orders, he attempted
to fly, but was arrested and taken to Turin to be tried
by court-martial. General Fanti, his successor, was left
entirely in the dark by Czarnowsky and tried in vain
to send messengers to Mortara on the 2Ist and 22d
March. At last, fearing the enemy might march on
Alessandria, which had a very small garrison, he led his
men thither. After the disaster of Novara, he received
orders to leave for Tortona, and on the march the news
that one of the conditions of the armistice was the dis-
banding of the Lombard legion became known. The men
were very indignant, as they feared being left to the
tender mercy of the Austrians, and their discontent was
fomented by agents sent by the Republicans of Genoa. A
few tried to desert, but were stopped by General Fanti’s
influence, who, on arrival at Tortona on the 30th March,
called his officers together, and explained the sad necessity
the Sardinian government was under to disband the Lom-
bard division. He suggested that for the Italian cause it
would be more advantageous to remain united, and offer
their services to the provisional governments of Rome or
Tuscany. The idea was admirable, and: served to tran-
quillise the troops and keep the division together. Old
Marshal La Tour accepted the task of presiding at the
court-martial which tried Ramorino. The crime of high
treason, suspected by many, could not be proved; but his
disobedience was flagrant, the punishment for which, by
the military code, is death. As I have already said, he
106 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
had received a written order from Czarnowsky, on the 17th
March, to take up a strong position with the Lombard
division at and round Cava, on the left bank of the Po.
With the bulk of his troops he remained on the right bank,
and thus facilitated the Austrian invasion of Piedmontese
territory. The court-martial condemned him to death.
He appealed against the sentence, and his old mother
came to Turin to implore the king’s pardon, who refused
to receive her. Several ladies, more tender-hearted than
patriotic, also attempted to approach the queen to beg her
to intercede, but without success. The whole ministry
were against granting any mitigation of the sentence, and
on the 22d May Ramorino was shot on the Champs de
Mars at Turin. He refused to be blindfolded, and met his
death with courage.
Besides the painful duty of disbanding the Lombard
division, and sending out of Piedmont so many men who
had fought with us for the liberation of Italy, I had to
recall our fleet from Ancona to Genoa. Left to her own
resources, it is a matter of history how gallantly Venice,
under Daniel Manin, defended herself against the Austrian
fleet and army. She only succumbed when sickness and
a close investment by the enemy made resistance im-
possible.
Meanwhile, negotiations for the peace, of which the
armistice had been the prologue, were proceeding.
Immediately after the abdication of his father, Victor
Emanuel sent the minister Cadorna and Colonel Cossato
to General Hess to treat for an armistice. General Hess,
chief of the staff to Radetzky, showed himself as un-
bending towards the young king’s envoys as Radetzky
had been to Charles Albert, and maintained certain con-
ditions absolutely offensive to the Constitution, which
Victor Emanuel was about to swear to uphold. They
were returning to Momo, when they heard that Radetzky
HARD CONDITIONS OF ARMISTICE 107
had asked and obtained an interview with Victor Emanuel.
The meeting took place at Vignale, half way between the
two headquarters. As already stated, the old marshal
had accompanied the young archduchess, Maria Adelaide,
to Turin in 1842, on the occasion of her marriage to Victor
Emanuel. He had been received with all honour by the
Court, and had made the young prince’s acquaintance.
Setting aside, for the moment, the conditions under which
they met, the marshal greeted Victor Emanuel with great
cordiality, and begged to be allowed to embrace him. He
expressed a sincere desire to conclude not only a treaty of
peace, but a durable friendship: between his own sovereign
and the young king. For this reason he strongly advised
Victor Emanuel to renounce the new form of Constitu-
tional government, which might become a source of con-
tinual disagreement between the Courts of Vienna and
Turin. The young king’s manner was most friendly and
deferential towards the old marshal, but he resolutely
declared his intention of preserving the Constitution, given
to his people by Charles Albert, intact, as he considered
“a revocation would be an insult to his father. After this,
Radetzky could not insist, and the conditions of the
armistice remained as before. While it was in force we
had to submit to the occupation of our territory, lying
between the Po, the Sesia and the Ticino, by eighteen
thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry. Half the
garrison of the citadel of Alessandria was to consist of
Austrian troops (Radetzky allowed it, however, to be
understood that this clause would not be insisted upon
unless difficulties arose about the ultimate treaty of peace).
The Sardinian troops were to abandon the territory on
the right bank of the Po, which before the war had not
belonged to us. The king bound himself to disband the
Lombard, Hungarian, and Polish legions, and to recall the
troops stationed outside the confines of Piedmont for the
108 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
defence of territory which was again to fall under Austrian
rule. These hard conditions were signed by Victor
Emanuel, who only stipulated a complete’ amnesty for
those Austrian subjects who had fought under the Italian
‘flag. This was promised by the marshal.
On this basis, negotiations for peace were begun at
Milan, between the minister De Bruck for Austria, and
Dabormida and Boncompagni for Piedmont. Our pleni-
potentiaries were instructed to obtain some relief from
the hard terms of the armistice; but not only did they
fail in their intent—new pretentions were raised, especially
with regard to the indemnity for which De Bruck claimed
220 millions.
After futile endeavours to come to terms, our pleni-
potentiaries were recalled to Turin, and negotiations were
broken off.
The Austrian troops, in observation round Alessandria,
immediately entered the citadel and occupied one half, as
had been established in the protocol of the armistice, not-
withstanding the protest of our government that they
refused to recognise those conditions during the pre-
liminaries for peace, even at the risk of a new war. To
tell the truth we were neither desirous nor prepared for
fresh hostilities; and the same was reported of the
Austrians.
Meanwhile dissension broke out between De Launay
and Pinelli, Minister of the Interior. Public opinion
wrongfully accused De Launay of Conservatism, whilst he
was a sincere Liberal. But he would not hear of allowing
the Radicals, who wanted war at any price, to get the
upper hand and ruin the country. The king and De
Launay agreed to choose another president of the Council,
and, I believe, Massimo D’Azeglio was suggested by De
Launay himself. D’Azeglio had no desire to enter the
government, and still less to become president of the
DAZEGLIO AS PRESIDENT OF COUNCIL 109
Council; he made every sort of excuse, but at last saw, as
I had done on the 27th March, that it was a patriotic duty.
He entered the ministry on the 7th May, and his great
popularity immediately made itself felt. In the beginning
of June the negotiations of peace were reopened, after
demanding the withdrawal of the Austrian troops from
Alessandria, which was done in twenty-four hours. Count
di Pralormo, who had been our plenipotentiary in Vienna
for several years, was added to Boncompagni and
Dabormida, and under his guidance things went better.
De Bruck came down from 220 millions to 75, the
amnesty of the Lombard-Venetians was published before
peace was ratified, and in eight days the Austrian troops
evacuated the kingdom of his Majesty the King of
Sardinia.
The majority of the nation was devoted to the royal
family, but occupied themselves little with politics, and
lacked the energy to insist on peace and tranquillity,
compromised by the Radical party. On the 30th July the
new Chambers opened with the same elements of opposi-
tion as the last. The electors returned their former
members, and Marquis Pareto, one of the instigators of
the revolution at Genoa, was again elected president.
No sooner did D’Azeglio announce that peace was about
to be signed, and ask a vote for 75 millions, than violent
uproar arose in the Opposition benches. The death of
Charles Albert caused a momentary lull. On hearing how
ill his father was, Victor Emanuel had sent Riberi, his own
doctor, to Oporto, who remained there till the 28th July,
when the king died. His death was only known in Turin
on the 8th August, the day peace was ratified at Milan.
The sittings of Parliament were suspended for a week, and
when it met again the Opposition was more violent than
before, and the vote for the payment of 75 millions only
passed by a very small majority. These perpetual Par-
110 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
liamentary struggles kept the country in a ferment, and
were most damaging to all business and commerce, The
odious insinuations of treachery in the army were again
circulated, and the government was accused by the
Radicals of seeking to destroy the new order of things by
secret treaties. D’Azeglio was furious, but restrained
himself, and kept a firm hand on the helm of the State.
As to myself, I confess I was delighted when the day fixed
between the king and myself came, and I handed over my
portfolio to Bava.
I quitted the ministry on the 7th September, and on
the 12th I married the young Countess Irene Verasis
di Castiglione, to whom I had been engaged for some
months.
The king had given his permission to our marriage,
and asked me if the future Countess Della Rocca would
like to be named one of the ladies about the queen, whose
Court was just being formed. Irene accepted, and it was
settled that when we returned from our honeymoon I was
to present her to their Majesties.
CHAPTER. X
END OF 1849-1855.
Life at Moncalieri—Parliament dissolved—New Chambers ratify Treaty with
Austria— Marriage of Duke of Genoa—Enmity of Foreign Powers—Sir
James Hudson—Stormy Debates on Ecclesiastical Matters—Cavour
becomes Prime Minister—Death of Duke of Genoa.
VICTOR EMANUEL took up his residence at the castle
of Moncalieri, whence he rode or drove every day to
Turin, The Court was in mourning, not only for Charles
Albert, but for the disasters which had befallen our country.
All the rigid etiquette of the former reign was abolished
by the young king ; Maria Adelaide, brought up in simple
German fashion, disliking it as much as he did himself.
The grave and unbending widowed Queen Maria Theresa
remained the only representative of the solemn Court of
Charles Albert, as Maria Adelaide, always kind and ami-
able, had insisted on her mother-in-law living with her.
My wife had been named one of the ladies about the
young queen, and her waiting began in December 1849;
so the king allowed me to choose the same month for my
duties as one of his four aides-de-camp.
On our return from our honeymoon, in November, the
political horizon was gloomy. Several of my colleagues
were no longer in the ministry—Galvagno had taken the
place of Pinelli, and was succeeded as Minister of Public
Works by Paleocapa, a Venetian; while Alphonse La
Marmora was Minister of War and Marine, instead of
III
‘
112 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
Bava. The Chambers, restless and noisy, refused to listen
to logic or reason. They clamoured for war at all hazards,
without reflecting that quiet and order were necessary to
.recoup our strength and reorganise the army. Fortun-
ately, our ministers and diplomatists were patient and
clever, and succeeded in obtaining large reductions from
the first demands of Austria. Now it seems almost im-
possible to realise how little Piedmont, vanquished,
without allies, and unaided by any of the great powers,
should have accomplished what she did. It was sheer
folly not to see that everything that was possible had
been done. The deputies demanded that new conditions,
chiefly in favour of the emigrants, should be added to the
treaty, and, by seventy votes against sixty-six, refused to
sanction it. This was about the middle of November, and
the king immediately dissolved Parliament, and appealed
to the country for the second time. On the 2oth, by the
advice of the prime minister, d’Azeglio, he published the
famous ‘ Proclamation of Moncalieri.’
The Parliament, which met in December, was better
constituted, and Pinelli was elected president. In a few
days the treaty of peace with Austria was ratified without
a dissentient voice. The session was opened with a speech
by the king, expressing his satisfaction, and he was heartily
cheered in Piazza Castello on leaving the Chambers. The
first debates were on ecclesiastical jurisdiction,! a thorny
subject, which provoked stormy discussions, and lasted for
several years, during which Piedmont was at open war
with the Holy See. Deplorable acts were committed on
both sides; when, for instance, the Roman Curia refused
the sacrament to the dying minister Santa Rosa, because
he voted for the abolition of ecclesiastical privileges, and
when the government arrested the Archbishop of Turin,
1 For abolishing the privileges and immunities enjoyed by ecclesiastics in
legal questions.
MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF GENOA 113
condemned to a month’s imprisonment and finally exiled,
for having publicly prohibited his clergy to obey any
citation before a lay tribunal.
In the spring of 1850 a marriage was arranged between
the Duke of Genoa and the daughter of Prince John,
brother and heir to King Frederick Augustus of Saxony.
I was sent to Dresden by Victor Emanuel to ask the hand
of the Princess Maria Elizabeth for his brother, and was
accompanied by my cousin, Major di Cigala, one of the
handsomest men in the army. Travelling post by way
of Strasburg and Berlin, we reached Dresden in five days.
I was most graciously received, first by the King of
Saxony, then by Prince John, and finally by the Princess
Maria Elizabeth, and the marriage was arranged to take
place soon.
Meanwhile I went to Prague to deliver a letter en-
trusted to me by the Queen Maria Adelaide for the
archduke, her brother, who commanded the garrison.
Whilst there, I asked leave to pay my respects to the
ex-Empress Marianne of Austria, one of the twin daughters
of Victor Emanuel I., who married the Crown Prince
Ferdinand in 1831. He became emperor four years
later, and abdicated owing to epilepsy and madness in
1848. The empress was most gracious, and addressed
me in the Piedmontese dialect, asking after all the royal
family. While talking to her near a window in the large
saloon, a man, wrapped in a long mantle like a monk’s
cloak, crossed from one door to another. Divining that
it must be the emperor, I was about to rise, when the
empress laid her hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Ca
fassa finta d’nén, + and went on with her conversation.
Soon afterwards she dismissed me, and I returned to
Dresden to receive the Duke of Genoa and attend his
marriage,
1 ¢ Pretend not to see.’
H
114. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
In December 1850 my daughter Nathalie was born,
and the following spring I was made chief of the staff.
It had rather lost ground in the last three years as
many of the older officers had been placed on the retired
list, and their places had not been filled by younger men.
I presented a list to the minister of war, but La Marmora
was too authoritative to admit that the chief of the staff
should enjoy the position and privileges enjoyed hitherto,
and I had some trouble in obtaining the nomination of
six of the officers named in my list. They all turned out
well, and did honour to the corps, so that, altogether, the
years 1851-1855 were among the happiest of my life.
Victor Emanuel was always kind and gracious to me.
Though residing at Moncalieri he often passed whole
weeks at Turin, so that our daily intercourse was almost
uninterrupted.
All the rigid etiquette introduced by Charles Albert
had been abolished at the Court of Victor Emanuel. The
sweet smile of the Queen Maria Adelaide, her kindly
manner to all, her perfect temper, and the unaffected
cheeriness of the king, rendered life at Moncalieri easy
and pleasant, and allowed no scope for the usual intrigues
and petty jealousies of a Court.
The queen was very delicate and her health was visibly
declining, but she preserved her beauty and angelic ex-
pression. She was very religious, but without any ostenta-
tion. Much of her time was passed in writing to her
relations at Milan and Vienna, and she embroidered
most beautifully in various coloured silks. Her con-
versation was simple and ingenuous as a girl’s; highly
educated, her modesty was so great that she seemed afraid
of showing how much she knew.
As there were four aides-de-camp, I was only on duty
three months in the year, but I was often summoned to
take the place of one or the other of my companions, who
ENMITY OF FOREIGN POWERS 115
were not strong enough to follow Victor Emanuel in his
shooting expeditions and excursions. I took no direct
part in politics during these years, but seeing so much
of the king I heard all that was going on. My cousin,
Massimo D’Azeglio, showed great tact and _ energy,
_ although the Radicals, furious at his thwarting their
policy, accused him of being idle, too fond of his painting,
and unfit for the cares of office. The position was a
difficult one; the European powers were against us, and
gave us advice, which in fact was an expression of their
disapprobation of our Constitutional institutions which, to
them, were odious. England alone was friendly, and her
representative, Sir James Hudson, who came to Turin
about this time and remained until the kingdom of Italy
was an accomplished fact, gave constant proofs of this.
Republican France was hostile, although her president,
Prince Louis Napoleon, was favourable. He had not
forgotten that, with his brother, he had fought in 1831 for
the independence of Italy; but for the moment he was
forced to dissemble. Victor Emanuel and D’Azeglio
were astute enough to divine this, and to cultivate his
friendly feelings by their cordiality at a time when he
was regarded with suspicion by all the sovereigns of
Europe. During a visit the president made to the Savoy
frontier, the king sent an envoy to greet him with a very
complimentary letter. I am almost certain that Napoleon’s
resolve to come to the aid of Piedmont dates from that
interchange of letters and friendly messages.
The coup @état which made Napoleon emperor took
place on the 2d December 1851, and the friendship be-
tween the two sovereigns became firmly established.
Our home affairs were not more satisfactory than our
relations with foreign powers. The debates on ecclesi-
astical immunities, civil marriage and the suppression of
convents were stormy. They aroused the enmity of Rome
116 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
and.tormented the conscience of the king, who changed
his ministers several times, though Massimo D’Azeglio
held the presidency from 1849 till 1852. Victor Emanuel
liked, esteemed and confided in D’Azeglio; at that time
he rather dreaded the audacity of Cavour, who was in
bad odour at the Roman Curia. Though alien to the
religious bigotry of the Bourbons, the king was a pro-
fessed Catholic, and his mother and wife kept alive his
sentiments of respect for the Church of the Holy See.
He feared that if Cavour became prime minister, the Pope
would turn completely against Piedmont and himself, and
also that his minister might embroil him with Austria and
Russia.
After one of the many ministerial shufflings there was
a warm discussion between the king and D’Azeglio, who
declared his resolve to abandon political life. Victor
Emanuel tried to form a Conservative Cabinet before
summoning Cavour, but the attempt failed; and as
soon as the latter became prime minister he proposed
Rattazzi, leader of the left centre, to the king as minister
of the interior. A union between the right and the left
centre had already been initiated by Cavour in the
Chambers; but the king, who then hardly knew Urbano
Rattazzi,and was afraid lest his party might undermine the
monarchy and join with the extreme Radicals, refused.
Cavour now became arbiter of the destinies, not only
of little Piedmont, but of all Italy. With marvellous
ability he took advantage of the political emigration to
Turin. From southern and central Italy, and from the
Lombard-Venetian provinces, men came to Piedmont to
enjoy the liberty, momentarily conceded by their own
sovereigns only to be cruelly snatched away. The exiles
were received with open arms; nearly every house had
one as a lodger. Cavour made their acquaintance—nearly
all men of mark in science, literature and art—and helped
DEATH OF DUKE OF GENOA 117
them. Gradually a large number of Republicans, struck
by the loyalty and good sense of the king and the extra-
ordinary intelligence of his minister, were persuaded by
him to join the party of Constitutional monarchy. He
was already laying the foundation of an independent
and strong Italian kingdom.
The conduct of foreign affairs by Cavour had been
so successful that, profiting by the condition of Europe,
little Piedmont made a treaty with France and England
for the defence of Turkey against the arrogance of Russia,
on condition of furnishing a contingent of fifteen thou-
sand men.
The Duke of Genoa was destined to command the
army, with Alphonse La Marmora as chief of the staff.
But in the autumn of 1854 the duke fell seriously ill. It
became evident that he could not embark for the Crimea,
and that La Marmora, who had been minister of war for
five years, would have to take the command. The pre-
parations took several months, and the Duke of Genoa
died before our little army started in the spring of 1855.
CHAPTER XI
1855-1857
Death of Queen Maria Theresa—Death of Queen Maria Adelaide and Her
Child—Expedition to the Crimea—Victor Emanuel visits Paris and
London—Napoleon advises Him to Marry again—I am sent to Dussel-
dorf—Countess Castiglione’s Jewels—Prescience of Cavour—Mazzini
attempts to seize the Arsenal of Genoa—Sends Conspirators to Padula. }
AT the end of 1854 the queen, accompanied by her mother-
in-law, came to Turin for her confinement. Maria Theresa,
as I have already said, was extremely religious, and rarely
left the palace, save to visit various churches. During one
of these visits she caught cold and died of inflammation of
the lungs on the 12th January. Her death was kept a
secret from Maria Adelaide, who had just given birth to
her seventh son. The child died almost immediately, and
his mother on the 20th January, eight days after Maria
Theresa. A few weeks later the Duke of Genoa, to whom
the king was tenderly attached, breathed his last. As
always happens in such cases, there were rumours of
poison, while many talked of a divine punishment for the
laws relating to the confiscation of church property and
the suppression of convents, which were under discussion
in Parliament. The death of the two queens was attri-
buted, in great measure, to grief at the expected vote in
favour of these measures, and it was affirmed that their
last prayer to the king had been not to sanction them.
My wife, who was in almost constant attendance on the
118
DEATH OF THE TWO QUEENS 119
Queen Maria Adelaide, and was present when she died,
heard nothing of this. The queen was too weak to speak,
and only now and then murmured a loving word to her
husband while he held her hand. The king told me that
during that time men of various parties left him no peace,
attempting to influence him one way or the other. He
did his utmost, while remaining staunch to the laws sanc-
tioned by both Houses, to come to some understanding:
with Rome. But when he saw that, to the proposals made
in his name by the bishops of Chambéry and Mondovi,
Rome replied by threats of excommunication, he at once
acceded to the wishes of the majority, and gave. his
sanction to all that had been done. As a distraction from
his family sorrows, he occupied himself with the prepara-
tions for the Crimean war, and in the spring gradually
resumed his active life.
I must confess that public opinion was decidedly un-
favourable to the Franco-Anglo alliance, and still more to
_ the expedition to the Crimea. Count Cavour was hotly
attacked, and the king was also blamed, as very few people
understood the advantages which were ultimately to. accrue
to us from such a policy. Our part of the war resolved
itself into the brilliant battle of the Tchernaja, which was
to have considerable influence on the destinies of Italy. It
demonstrated to Europe that France and England had
sought the alliance of little Piedmont, that our army was
well disciplined and brave, that our sovereign was coura-
geous and ready to enter into any undertaking likely to
serve, not only his own reputation, but the general interests
of the Italian peninsula, and that his prime minister was
a man of extraordinary ability, and surrounded by a bevy
of clever men from all parts of Italy. This was the first
link of the chain, forged by the skilful hands of Cavour,
which was to rivet Piedmont to the rest of the peninsula ;
the second was his taking his place among the represen-
120 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OFA VETERAN
tatives of the great European powers at the Congress of
Paris.
Despite the intrigues of Austria, Cavour succeeded in
obtaining a position in the Congress equal to that enjoyed
by the other representatives, and he was thus enabled to
put the Italian question officially before Europe. He took
advantage of the admiration expressed by England of our
troops to suggest that Queen Victoria should invite our
king to pay her a visit, and arranged that at the same
time he should also be the guest of Napoleon IIT. in Paris.
Cavour foresaw the success that Victor Emanuel, so
original in manner and character, would have abroad.
The king was frank and expressive, nay, even familiar,
but, at the same time, he was proud and fully aware of
what was due to him as the representative of a princely
family, dating from more than eight centuries.
On 23d November the king arrived in Paris, accom-
panied by Cavour and Massimo d’Azeglio, the leaders of
the Liberal and the Conservative parties,and myself as first
aide-de-camp. We were lodged in the Tuilleries, and the
emperor, who had not long been married to the Countess
of Montijo, gave a series of fétes in honour of Victor
Emanuel.
At the end of November we left for London. The
railway was the property of the Baron James de Roth-
schild, and he accompanied us to Calais. As soon as the
train started Cavour and Rothschild retired into another
compartment. Half an hour later the former returned
rubbing his hands, an habitual trick of his when pleased,
and with a jovial, sly smile on his face. ‘Well?’ said the
king, by whom Cavour had seated himself. ‘Everything
is settled, your Majesty ; I am quite satisfied.’ ‘And you,
Baron?’ continued Victor Emanuel to Rothschild; who
had followed Cavour. ‘I am also satisfied,’ he replied ;
‘everything is in order. ‘Then I must congratulate both
VICTOR EMANUEL IN ENGLAND 121
of you,’ said the king, shaking hands with them. During
those few minutes Cavour had arranged the first loan, to
be followed by many others, with the house of Rothschild.
He never lost a moment ; walking, travelling, or eating, he
accomplished some financial or political business.
The reception accorded to the king in London was
extraordinary. We traversed the town at foot’s-pace, in
the midst of a compact, loudly cheering crowd. This
‘went on for two hours, so great was the distance between
the station where we disembarked and the one where
we entered the train for Windsor.
The Prince Consort met the king at the foot of the
stairs and accompanied him to the top, where he was met
by the queen. Soon afterwards Prince Albert conducted
Victor Emanuel to his apartments, where cigars of all
sorts had been put into every room. The English, who
were never seen with a cigar in their mouths, had heard
_the king smoked all day long, and the cigars had been
provided as a kind of intimation that he was to make
himself at home.
From Windsor we went to London for two days,
where we heard a speech from the Lord Mayor, com-
plimenting the King of Sardinia, the ally, friend, and
guest of England. Emanuel D’Azeglio, nephew of
Massimo, had already translated it into Italian for the
king’s benefit, and Massimo had written a reply in French.
Again the enthusiasm was tremendous, and the car-
riages could only go at foot’s-pace through the crowd,
which waved handkerchiefs and shouted. Smiling gaily,
the king said to me, ‘You'll see how well I shall bear
myself to-day and bow my acknowledgments properly at
the pathetic passages.’ In public Victor Emanuel never
lost his self-control, and he played his part admirably in
the great hall.of the Mansion House. Listening to the
speech of the Lord Mayor, as though he understood every
122 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
allusion, he bowed his thanks with the greatest dignity ;
then, handing me his cocked hat, replied in French, ac-
centuating well, in a sonorous voice, and with a kingly
air which elicited loud applause.
Before leaving London the king was invested with the
Order of the Garter. Warned that he must wear the
special dress of the knights of the Order, a tailor was
summoned and told to have it ready in twenty-four hours.
The uniform was made, but fitted very ill, as I saw before
and after the ceremony, for only the knights are allowed
to be present at the investiture.
We left England on the 5th December, and the
emperor insisted on the king spending two days at the
Tuilleries. He told me that Napoleon made particular
inquiries about his family, and strongly counselled him
to marry again. Similar advice had been given by the
Queen of England, and the beautiful Princess of Cam-
bridge had been vaguely mentioned. But Victor Emanuel,
though he admired her exceedingly, could not make up
his mind to the marriage, and Queen Victoria let the sub-
ject drop. Napoleon, on the contrary, insisted, and pro-
posed a princess of one of the oldest, but not the richest,
families of Europe. Although the king had not the
slightest intention of marrying a second time, he did not
wish to offend his powerful ally, or give him reason to
suspect that he had already married, or was about to
marry, Rosina Vercellani morganatically. He knew it
would have as bad an effect on Queen Victoria as on
Napoleon, so he affected to entertain the idea, if he could
be assured that the princess was handsome, intelligent,
and amiable, as the Queen Maria Adelaide had been,
The emperor then suggested that I should be sent to
see her; a mission not at all to my taste, but which I
had to accept. So when the king left for Piedmont I
went to Germany, without any letters of introduction, as
COUNTESS DI CASTIGLIONE’S JEWELS 123
the object of my journey was to be a secret. After two
days of travelling I arrived in Dusseldorf, where I visited
the churches, the public gardens and the theatres, without
ever seeing Prince Hohenzollern Sigmaringen or his
family. I began to despair, when the happy thought
struck me of asking leave to visit the prince’s stables.
Whilst talking to the director the prince rode up in
uniform and asked my name. One of his sisters had
married Marquis Pepoli of Bologna, with whose family I
was acquainted, so he invited me to dinner, and I was thus
able to see the Princess Stephanie. She was only eighteen,
and, though charming, was very shy and not likely to
induce a sovereign who was averse to matrimony to
change his mind. My mission, therefore, as I had fore-
seen, was fruitless, and I returned to Turin in time to
pass Christmas with my family.
In March 1856 I was again in Paris with my wife and
_ two little daughters, to consult the famous physician Blache
about one of them. We saw the baptism of the Prince
Imperial, and were invited to all the Court /étes at St
Cloud and in Paris. Here we saw the beautiful Countess di
Castiglione, whom we had known as a child in Piedmont.
It was the beginning of her great favour with the emperor,
which lasted six or seven years, and aroused the jealousy
of the empress. The richness and daring originality of
her ¢ozlettes were celebrated. At a fancy dress ball at the
Tuilleries the lovely countess appeared as Queen of Hearts,
in a very transparent dress open on one side up to her
hip, and displaying her magnificent figure clothed in
scarlet silk ‘tights.’ Round her neck was a gold chain,
from which hearts, encrusted with precious stones, were
suspended, and a large heart hung from her girdle in
front. Court gossips said that the empress exclaimed,
‘ Quels beaux bijoux, mats le coeur est placé bien bas !”
The Congress for the peace with Russia was then
124 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
sitting in Paris, and the successes of Cavour, his wonder-
ful cleverness, and his eminent qualities as a statesman,
were themes of general conversation. I felt proud to see
the admiration my compatriot excited, and was disagree-
ably surprised when, on my return to Turin, the king told
me it was rumoured that I had been sent by him on a
kind of secret mission to report on the acts of Cavour
and the impression they made on the Tuilleries and else-
where. These reports reached Cavour, who showed his
displeasure to the king. He imagined that I had great
influence with Victor Emanuel, an opinion shared by
many others, and which was the cause of considerable
mischief to me in after years. The truth is that the king
was always extremely kind-to me, and treated me, if I may
use the term, as a sort of elder brother-at-arms, who could
advise him in matters of private life, and to whom he
could talk about political concerns, without however per-
mitting any discussion on his duties as a Constitutional
sovereign. He had a keen perception of those about him ;
some he both liked and esteemed, but not all. Several of
the men whose character and intelligence he admired were
personally distasteful to him, yet he called them several
times to power, sacrificing his likes and dislikes to the good
of his country and the Italian cause, which was his one
object in life, and in which he always believed when others
had lost heart.
The same party in Piedmont which disapproved of the
Crimean expedition could not seize the importance of the
success obtained by Cavour at the Congress of Paris in
1856, or the impulse he had given to Italian affairs. Many
Turinese grumbled that nothing had been stipulated for
Piedmont, who gained no material advantages from the
alliance and the war. But the Milanese, the Venetians
and the Liberals of the divers Italian provinces were more
clear-sighted, and the aspirations of 1848 again made them-
-PRESCIENCE OF CAVOUR 125
selves heard. The king Galantuomo and his incomparable
minister were overwhelmed with thanks, encouragement
and prayers. I think I am correct in saying that the
designs and expectations of Cavour increased so largely
towards the end of 1856 and during 1857 that he foresaw
possibilities he had not dared to calculate on. By the
help of several Lombards, of various Sicilians led by
Farina, and of the more remarkable members of the Centre,
he began to weave the net which was to enfold all the
children of Italy, and realise his ideal of seeing all the
independent provinces united into one country.
On 4th July 1857 I became lieutenant-general by
seniority, which confirmed me in the position of first aide-
de-camp and one of the chief officers of the Court, so that
I was more than ever about the king.
There were violent debates in the Chambers about
transferring the naval station from Genoa to Spezia. The
latter port was preferable in case of a war, which seemed
probable, as Austria was playing the same game she had
done ten years before. The Genoese were less annoyed
than had been feared by the passing of the law. Since
the question of Italian independence had been raised they
understood that Piedmont was the only possible champion.
Mazzini, however, thought otherwise. Desirous of effacing
the memory of the failure of his enterprise in southern
Italy, he was planning fresh revolts on the Neapolitan
coast and in central Italy. For some months he had
been moving between Leghorn, Spezia and Genoa with
some of his followers charged to collect men and arms.
Counting on the ill-humour of his Genoese compatriots
he determined to try and seize the naval arsenal and the
artillery depot, and capture a frigate that lay at anchor in
the port of Genoa. A warning had reached Rattazzi, the
minister of the interior, but he did not believe the con-
spiracy was serious, and his information as to Mazzini’s
1206 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
movements was defective. The French police, however,
discovered the plot, and revealed it to our government,
who immediately reinforced the garrisons of the places
menaced by the Mazzinians; the result was their precipi-
tate retreat, with the exception of a small detachment in
the fort Dzamante, who were not warned in time. During
the night they fell upon the small. garrison, killed the
sergeant and took the men prisoners. There was some agi-
tation next morning in the city, but rather in favour of the
government than of Mazzini. Seeing the unfavourable turn
of events, he took his departure; but, before leaving, arranged
one of those foolhardy enterprises which only served to
increase the number of victims to the Italian cause, or, as
some said, to keep the idea of union alive in the peninsula.
Misled by reports from some of his emissaries, who
assured him that on the Neapolitan coast, at Padula and
at Sapri, thousands of men only awaited his orders to rise,
-he persuaded Pisacane and Nicotera, with a merchant
captain and some volunteers, to embark as passengers on
board the Cagliari, a Sardinian vessel trading between
Genoa and Tunis. On the high seas they made the
Sardinian captain prisoner, put their man in his place,
forced the sailors and the two engineers, who were
Englishmen, to obey him, and sailed for’ the coast. Not
a man met them at the appointed places, but at Ponza
they succeeded in liberating and enrolling three hundred
prisoners. At Padula they were met by a battalion of
Neapolitan troops and utterly beaten; Pisacane was killed,
Nicotera wounded and arrested. The captain of the
Cagliari \eft the conspirators on shore and started for
Tunis; but the ship was captured in the name of Ferdinand
II. and taken to Naples. Our government protested in
vain, until at last England insisted on the release of her
subjects the two engineers, the restitution of the vessel to
Sardinia, and the payment of an indemnity.
Cm Pee RR XI
1858. BEGINNING OF 1859
Orsini attempts Life of Napoleon III.—I am sent as Ambassador Extra-
ordinary to Paris—Anger of the Emperor—Victor Emanuel’s Letter—
Princess Mathilde at the Tuilleries Ball—Napoleon promises His Aid
against Austria—The Treaty of Plombi¢éres—Am named Head of the
General Staff—Declaration of War—French Troops arrive in Piedmont
—Incapacity of Giulay—Garibaldi takes Command of Volunteers—
Victor Emanuel receives Tuscan Deputation.
IN January 1858 all Europe, and Piedmont in particular,
was startled by the attempted assassination of Napoleon III.
by Felice Orsini. The emperor wrote to the sovereigns
of Europe, requesting them to take severe precautionary
measures against the Republican and Radical Italian emi-
grants and exiles who had taken refuge in their several
states. Many of them sent special ambassadors to Paris to
compliment Napoleon on having escaped unhurt, and Victor
Emanuel, in concert with Cavour, confided this difficult
missiontome. Our government especially had fallen under
the displeasure of the emperor on account of the number
of exiles from the various Italian states who had taken
refuge with us. I arrived in Paris with my aide-de-camp
and secretary, Count Charles di Robilant, captain of
artillery and an intimate friend of ours, at the end of
January. At an official audience I delivered to the
emperor an autograph letter from the king, informing
his don frére that his ambassador extraordinary was
charged to give the fullest explanations on all matters
connected with the circular and subsequent notes sent by
the Imperial to the Sardinian Government.
127
128 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
Several days passed without our receiving any invita-
tion to the Tuilleries,and I became anxious. Unaccus-
tomed to the tortuous ways of diplomacy, I knew not
whether to ask for another audience or to await the
pleasure of the emperor. Both the king and Cavour
were anxiously waiting to hear the result of the private
audience which they expected would follow immediately
on the delivery of the letter. From the Marquis of
Villamarina, our minister plenipotentiary at Paris, I heard
that, after the attempt on his life, the emperor had ex-
pressed great anger against the Sardinian Government,
exclaiming, ‘Piedmont is a nest of revolutionists and
assassins. Orsini has stayed there several times, and
Mazzini is continually in the country, without the police
taking any notice.’ These words, and the delay in grant-
ing me an audience, seemed to augur badly, especially
as the Prince of Liechtenstein, Austrian ambassador
extraordinary, who arrived in Paris after us, was said to
have been very well received at Court. At last in the
beginning of February came an invitation to dine at
the Tuilleries, with a letter from the minister of the house-
hold, intimating that his H.I.M. the Emperor would see
me in private the same evening. After dinner Napoleon
took me into his study, and said the tone of the king’s
letter was very friendly, and that he intended to reply at
some length. Then he paused, and I thought I might
venture to draw his attention to several matters I had
been instructed to submit to him. But seeing that he
wished to formulate his accusations before I could attempt
any defence, I stopped short. Requesting me to listen
attentively, as he wished his precise words to be reported
to the king, he began with vehement, I may say unjust,
charges against our government. He complained especi-
ally of a newspaper, La Ragzone, and of the judges who,
after trying the editor for abusing monarchical governments
ANGER OF NAPOLEON II, 129
and publishing something very like an apology for political
assassination, had absolved him. Such acts, continued the
Emperor, were calculated to cool the friendly relations
hitherto subsisting between his government and Piedmont,
and showed that our ministry, particularly Count Cavour,
was in league with the extreme left. Our laws, he added,
were quite inadequate to cope with the disorder born of
political assassination, or with the disgraceful press which
glorified such deeds. Recalling our alliance with him
and with England in 1855, he impressed upon me how
little we had to hope from the latter power, while all our
interests lay in a close alliance with him. For this it was
absolutely necessary that those emigrants, who consti-
tuted a perpetual source of danger to ourselves and to
him, should be banished from Piedmont. He said that,
owing to his complaints, Geneva, till now a refuge for
assassins, had expelled a large number of exiles who
had gone to Savoy, where the police not only failed to
denounce them, but allowed demonstrations of welcome
in their honour. From the provinces, from public bodies,
and from the army, Napoleon stated that he had received
addresses expressing the utmost horror of the attempted
assassination by Orsini, and that the army was ready to
march against any place known to be a refuge for assassins.
The threat contained in the last few words was menacing.
To conceal the impression made upon me, I again tried to
persuade the emperor that the accusations against our
government were unfounded, and assured him of our
unceasing endeavours to restrain revolutionary tendencies
and repress disorder. He listened courteously, but re-
tracted nothing, and again requested that his exact words
should be reported in writing to the king. Reluctantly I
had to obey, and the same night our courier took my
letter to Turin.
The emperor had been as courteous towards myself
I
130 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
as he had been harsh towards my government; when
I took leave he told me to come to the Tuilleries any
morning between nine and ten, when he was generally at
liberty. So, before the courier returned, I saw him several
times, and, according to my instructions, attempted to lay
the condition of Piedmont since 1849 before him. From
observations and questions addressed to me at the
Tuilleries and in Paris salons, I saw that Piedmontese
affairs were utterly unknown in France. We were regarded
as more or less revolutionary, and accused of giving refuge
to exiles and political criminals. I told the emperor that
the first years of Victor Emanuel’s reign had not been
easy; but now, thanks to his loyalty, the prudence and
firmness of D’Azeglio, and the clear-sighted policy and
powerful genius of Cavour, he had gained the confidence
and love of his people. Social revolution would not break
out in Piedmont, but was imminent in other Italian pro-
vinces, especially in those ruled by Austria. The only
way to prevent this, and pacify those who were appealing
to us for help, would be the intervention of a great power
in favour of Italian independence. With regard to Mazzini,
I assured him that we knew his influence was on the
decline, owing to his foolhardy enterprises, which only
served to augment the number of martyrs to the Italian
cause; and I gave the true version of the affair of the
Cagliarz, which had been misrepresented in France.
By the time the courier returned with answers to my
letters, I saw the emperor was better disposed towards
us; so I ventured to obey the orders contained in one of
the letters of Victor Emanuel—zo commit the imprudence
of reading the other aloud to the emperor by motu proprio,
as it were. Napoleon listened attentively, smiled at some
passages, and expressed his admiration of the proud
dignity of the concluding words, ‘D’aprés ce que je viens
de vous dire, mon cher La Rocca, lempereur doit étre bien
VICTOR EMANUEL’S LETTER 131
persuadé de mes bonnes intentions, et voir que les faits ont
été executés méme avant qwil les eut demandés. Stl voulait
gue fuse de violence ici, gwil sache que je perdrats toute ma
SJorce, et lut toutes les sympathies dune genereuse et noble
nation.... Stles paroles, que vous me transmettez, sont les
paroles textuelles de Pempereur, dites lut dans les termes que
vous crotvez les mielleurs, qwon ne tratite pas ainsi un fidele
allié, que je wai jamazs souffert de violences de personne, que
Je suis la voie de lhonneur toujours sans tache et que de cet
honneur je wen reponds qua Dieu et a mon peuple ; qwilya
hutt cent cinquante ans que nous portons la téte haute, et
gue personne ne me la fera baisser, et avec tout céld que se
ne désive autre chose que détre son ami,
‘Vowla ce qui sappelle avoir du courage, exclaimed the
emperor. ‘ Votre rot est un brave,jaime sa réponse’ He
continued talking about the king, and repeated several
times, ‘Je suds sir que nous nous entendrons, and then told
me to write immediately to reassure Victor Emanuel, and
say he was sorry to have caused him any uneasiness, and
that his opinions with regard to Piedmont were modified.
In another audience I touched upon a reported scheme of
alliance between France and Austria, and the emperor
replied, ‘I love Italy, and shall never ally myself with
Austria against her. Had I occupied the place I now
fill in 1849 I should certainly have gone to the aid of
Charles Albert.’
At a great review the emperor beckoned me to his
side, pointing out one regiment after another as they
marched past. The same evening a paper was sent me
through the post, with a notice of the review, saying that
the emperor had conversed with the Austrian and English
ambassadors, but only said a few words to the King of
Sardinia’s envoy, ‘ Car icz les Piemontats ne sont pas aimés,
At the Tuilleries ball that night the empress stopped to
inquire about the king and his children, and asked after
132 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
my wife. Immediately after her came Princess Mathilde,
sister of Prince Jerome Bonaparte, one of the few persons
then in France who liked the Italians, and who was
supposed to enjoy the full confidence of the emperor.
‘ Dites mot, Monsieur Della Rocca; she exclaimed, in her
clear, high voice, ‘avez vous vu le journal de ce soir? Ces
gens la ont bien raison de dire que nous ne vous aimons pas,
car’ pausing a moment, ‘ous vous adorons, she
continued, laughing, and glancing archly at me. The
Prince of Liechtenstein was-standing close by, and his
yellow face turned green at these words. |
A few days later I received letters from Turin. Cavour
wrote :—‘ Je te ftlicite sincérement de tes debuts dans la
carritre diplomatique. Placé dans une position extrémement
difficile, tu as su ten tiver avec une rare habileté et un tact
parfait. Le rot a été trés satisfait de ce que tu as dit et de
ce que tuas fait. Je pense qwil te Pécriva lui méme’..,.
and the king added,‘ /e vous embrasse et je vous remercte
de tout mon ceur; vous mavez rendu un grand service, et
vous vous étes tiré daffaire dune mantere merverlleuse,
mieux quun dtiplomate. ...
At my last audience, on the 20th February, the
emperor declared himself perfectly satisfied with all I
had told him in the name of Victor Emanuel and of
Cavour, and with my explanations about the condition of
Piedmont. He authorised me to tell the king con-
fidentially that in case of a war between Piedmont and
Austria he would come with a large force to fight side by
side with his faithful ally Victor Emanuel. ‘ Dztes aussz,
he added, ‘a WZ. de Cavour, qu il se mette en correspondance
dtrecte avec mot, et que nous nous entendrons certainement.
It was a fortunate coincidence that, just as the emperor
was beginning to mollify towards us, Pietri, the prefect of
police, gave him a letter from Orsini, written in prison,
containing almost the same words I had spoken—that the
| fe
LETTER FROM ORSINI TO NAPOLEON 133
Italians were resolved to bear a foreign yoke no longer.
‘I conjure your Imperial Majesty, continued Orsini, ‘to
bestow on Italy the independence her sons wanted in 1848
and 1849. Be assured that until they have it there will be
no tranquillity for Europe, or for your Imperial Majesty.
Deign to listen to the last request of a patriot on the steps
of the scaffold—free my country, and the benedictions of
twenty-five million people will follow you to posterity.
On arriving at Turin I hastened to inform the king
and Cavour of the formal promise, to come to the aid
_of Piedmont in case of war with Austria, given by the
emperor at my last audience. I saw that Napoleon had
some other idea with respect to an alliance with us, and
hinted as much to the king. To Cavour I spoke more
plainly, and he rubbed his hands, and smiled rather
sardonically with an air of superior knowledge.
It is a matter of history that, immediately after the
meeting of the emperor and Cavour at Plombieres in 1858,
war was talked of as imminent. The propaganda of the
Italian cause in the provinces redoubled in zeal, aided by
the Wational Society of Central Italy, under La Farina,
who worked with Cavour. After the reception at the
Tuilleries for the New Year, when the emperor said to
Hiibner, Austrian ambassador at Paris, ‘I regret that our
relations with your government are not as cordial as they
were, and Victor Emanuel’s speech on the 1oth January
1859, at the opening of Parliament, the agitation increased.
Austria sent reinforcements to her Italian army, and war,
unpopular in France, but hailed with joy by the Italians,
was considered inevitable. Our finance minister, Lanza,
asked for a loan of fifty millions, troops were summoned
from the more distant garrisons, and in March all our
reserves were called under arms.
1 The marriage of Princess Clotilde, daughter of Victor Emanuel, and the
cession of Nice and Savoy, were probably in the thoughts of both.
134 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
France armed slowly. Public opinion was generally
hostile, and politicians, aware of Napoleon’s predilection
for the country which had given birth to his forebears,
declared the war was a sentimental one and injurious to
France, who could reap no advantage. They were ignorant
of the treaty at Plombiéres, which gave her two rich
provinces, We, on the contrary, pushed forward our
armaments with all speed. By the middle of April an
army of five divisions, each consisting of from twelve
thousand to fifteen thousand men, was ready. Victor
Emanuel was commander-in-chief, and he named me head
of the staff; La Marmora accompanied the king as minister
in attendance. Volunteers from Lombardy, Venetia,
Parma, the Roman States and Tuscany, flocked to join us
on the first rumour of war, and were placed under the
command of General Garibaldi. Two thousand Tuscan
regular soldiers also assembled under General Ulloa, but
they only arrived when all was over—after San Martino
and Solferino.
La Marmora (minister of war), thinking the enemy
would march straight for Turin, ordered the right bank of
the Dora Baltea to be fortified, and retained the command
of the troops destined to defend the capital for himself.
These preparations alarmed everyone, and there was a
general exodus, The entrenchments were hardly finished
when Marshal Canrobert, who was to command one of the
French army corps, and General Froissart, head of the
engineers, arrived in Turin to concert matters with the
king and the minister of war. They were invited by the
king to visit the line of fortifications, and the minister of
war, the chief of the staff, and the heads of the engineers
and artillery (La Marmora, Della Rocca, Menebrea and
Pastore) were asked to meet them. Canrobert immediately
declared himself against the defence of Turin from that
side, but courteously praised the way the work had been
WAR WITH AUSTRIA IS DECLARED 135
carried out under La Marmora’s supervision. Froissart,
on the contrary, roughly—almost aggressively—criticised
everything. We were rather hurt, but managed to conceal
our feelings, all except Cialdini, aide-de-camp in attendance
on the king, who was very hot-tempered. He contradicted
Froissart so wittily, and with such knowledge of military
matters, that we began to fear war might be declared
between France and Piedmont instead of between Pied-
mont and Austria. With some difficulty Menebrea and I
contrived to change the conversation.
On the 23d April Baron von Kellersberg brought a
letter from the Austrian minister, Buol, inviting Count
Cavour to reply within three days whether the government
of the King of Sardinia would place his army on a peace
footing and dismiss the volunteers or not. On the 26th
Cavour gave the Austrian envoy a negative reply; the
king having issued a proclamation on the 24th, calling his
troops to arms and announcing the imminent arrival of a
large French army, commanded by the emperor.
On the 28th April Francis Joseph announced to his
people that the Austrian army had been ordered to cross
the Piedmontese frontier, and next day the regiment of
hussars, King of Prussia, met our light cavalry near
Zinasco, and the advanced guard crossed the Ticino at
Beregnardo by a military bridge. On the 30th April the
strategical development of the Austrian army was accom-
plished behind the Terdoppio, and on the same day the
first French troops entered Turin.
Larmée ad Italie, as it was called, consisted of about
one hundred and twenty thousand men in five army corps,
four of twenty thousand men, one of twelve thousand, and
fifteen thousand men of the Imperial Guard under General
Regnault de Saint-Jean d’Angély. The first corps was
commanded by Marshal Baraguay d’Hilliers, the second
by General MacMahon, the third by Marshal Canrobert,
136 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
the fourth by General Niel, and the fifth by Prince Jerome
Napoleon.
The Austrians were said to be over two hundred
thousand men; but in the first battles they could only
muster one hundred and twenty thousand, divided into
five army corps; the rest formed the garrisons of the
fortresses in Lombardy, Venetia, Mantua, Verona, Peschiera,
etc. The commanders were Prince Liechtenstein, Count
Schwartzenberg, Count Stadion, Baron Nobel, and Von
Benedek. The division of reserve cavalry was under
Baron Mensdorf, and a division of independent infantry
under Urban. Field-marshal Count Giulay was comman-
der-in-chief, with Count Valmoden @ /atere ; the emperor’s
chief of the staff was Baron Hess, Count Giulay’s Baron
Kiilme.
By the 1oth May all the French troops had arrived
in Piedmont ; the Ist and 2d army corps and the
Imperial Guard disembarked at Genova, and marched by
Novi on Alessandria; the 3d and 4th came over the Mont
Cenis and Monginevra; the 5th disembarked at Leghorn
for Florence, and, crossing the Apennines, did not join the
army till after Solferino. The first four corps took up
their positions with us between S. Salvatore and Casale.
The king left Turin on the 30th April and established
his headquarters at S. Salvatore, near Casale, when my
hard work and responsibility as chief of the staff began.
La Marmora had sent twenty thousand men to occupy
the triangle between Alessandria, Casale and Bassignana
on the right bank of the Po, as soon as Kellersberg left
Turin. His orders had been given without consulting the
commander-in-chief, and still less the chief of the staff.
When the king and I visited the troops we saw how
hazardous their position was, opposed to an enemy more
than four times as strong on the Sesia and the left bank
of the Po, occupying the positions of Vercelli, Novara,
INCAPACITY OF GIULAY 137
Vigevano, etc. Giulay, leaving a corps in observation
before Casale and Valenza, might easily have crossed the
Po, attacked us on the right bank, and, placing himself
between Alessandria and Genoa, have arrested the French
as they descended from Novi towards Alessandria. Had
Giulay known his numerical superiority, and been capable
of using it, he might have prevented the junction of the
two armies.
It was fortunate for us that the enemy, far superior in
number, was led by an irresolute and hesitating com-
mander. We stood opposite him for nearly twenty days,
during which time he made no serious move, and only
attempted small attacks on our outposts, which were
invariably repulsed. When, in after years, it was pro-
posed to raise a monument to Victor Emanuel in memory
of the campaign of 1859, he used to say, ‘The monument
should not be dedicated to me, but to Giulay, for having
been so good as to spare us until the arrival of the French.’
One of my first acts was to recall Cialdini and his
division from his position on the Dora Baltea, and establish
his headquarters at Casale near us. On the 3d and 4th
May he frustrated the enemy’s attempts to cross the Po at
Frassineto, and forced them to abandon the positions of
Balzole, Villanova and Terranova. On the gth and roth
the Austrians advanced towards Trino and Crescentino,
thus approaching nearer Turin. I sent Castelborgo to
attack their left flank during the march, but before he
could deploy his troops, the enemy, to our surprise, re-
treated and retired across the Sesia.
We spent ten days at S. Salvatore, where Garibaldi, in
his new uniform of general of brigade, came to see the
king. Victor Emanuel sent him to Ivrea to take command
of the volunteers, ordering him to cross the Ticino at
Sesto Calende and advance on Varese, where there was a
strong Austrian force. The terror and disorder into which
138 AUTOBIOGRAPAY OF A VETERAN
he threw the right flank of the enemy is a matter of
history. On the 11th May we left S. Salvatore for Occi-
miana, where Victor Emanuel received Don Neri Corsini,
sent by the provisional government of Tuscany to entreat
him to accept the sovereignty of the Grand Duchy. The
king’s reception was extremely cordial, but he would give
no promise. This was the first of the many offers which
reached the Re Galantuomo (Honest King) from the various
provinces of central Italy.
VMAPTER XLII
1859 (SECOND PART)
Arrival of Napoleon—Montebello—Concentration of Allied Armies—Gari-
baldi’s Victories—Palestro—Victor Emanuel and the Zouaves—Retreat
of the Austrians— Magenta — Victor Emanuel accepts Sovereignty
of Lombardy—I follow Urban, but am stopped by Desvaux.
ON the 12th May Napoleon III. disembarked at Genoa,
and on the 14th established his headquarters at Ales-
sandria, assuming the supreme command of the allied
armies. My work was then doubled. I was perpetually
summoned from Occimiano, where the king had his head-
quarters, by the emperor or by General Vaillant, his head
of the staff, to give information about the roads and the
means of communication; so to my other duties was’
added that of courier and ¢claireur to the French head-
quarters. I had to think, not only of my own sixty
thousand men, but of the whole allied army.
The emperor immediately grasped the incapacity of
the Austrian commander-in-chief, who, for nearly three
weeks, had kept one hundred and twenty thousand men in
line without attacking the opposing force of between
twenty-five and thirty thousand. Giulay had made up
his mind that the first battle was to be fought in the great
plain of the valley of the Po, and kept his army stationary
between Casale and Mortara, and Mortara and Novara, in
order to defend Milan from that side. Napoleon resolved
139
1440 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A.VETERAN
to draw the enemy in another direction, and made a feint
to enter Lombardy by way of Piacenza, where he sent a
considerable body of troops and part of his camp equipage.
The battle of Montebello was the consequence of this
move, and Giulay was for some days in doubt as to the
real intention of the emperor, which was a counter-march
towards the Ticino. The idea was a bold one. It neces-
sitated crossing the enemy’s front, and marching round
his flank. Falling back from Alessandria towards Casale,
and advancing on Vercelli and Novara, the French troops,
describing a semi-circle, were to cross the Ticino at the
most undefended point and march on Milan. This was
to be done as quickly as possible, while the Austrians,
misled by the movement towards Piacenza, were on the
right bank of the Po. The Piedmontese were to cross the
Sesia, and station themselves in the centre of the semi-
circle on the road between Mortara and Palestro, to protect
the French advance from Casale on Vercelli. This plan
resulted in the two splendid days of Palestro, and in the
battle of Magenta on the opposite side of the Ticino.
On the 20th May, the day on which our cavalry fought
so well at Montebello, the king transferred his headquarters
to Casale. The Austrians, after some days of inactivity,
at length prepared to cross the Sesia nearly opposite
Terranova, a position occupied by General Fanti’s division.
Victor Emanuel had ordered a bridge to be thrown across
an arm of the river to a small island, whence the passage
of the enemy could be observed. They did not attempt to
molest our engineers, but two sharp skirmishes took place
near by.
On the evening of the 23d there was a continuous
interchange of telegrams between Alessandria and Casale.
Napoleon, badly informed, announced a gathering of the
Austrian’s in force near Voghera, and he feared an attack
on the small body of French troops sent on the feint
CONCENTRATION OF ALLIED ARMIES 141
towards Piacenza. He begged the king not to divide his
forces, to recall Cialdini, who was already on the other side
of Vercelli, and to send reinforcements towards Voghera.
After I returned from Terranova to Casale, having exe-
cuted the emperor’s wishes, a telegram with counter orders
came in. Napoleon having received more correct infor-
mation, notwithstanding the official bulletin, announced his
departure for Voghera. The news was false, but served
its purpose; as the enemy, after vainly trying to take the
islet, which had been well fortified, and was defended by
General Mollard’s brigade, disappeared from the banks
of the Sesia, and hurried to prevent the advance of the
French towards Voghera.
On hearing this, the emperor resumed his plan of a
counter-march, which he had hesitated to carry out owing
to various false alarms. Late on the 26th he wrote to
Victor Emanuel, and next morning we rode over so early
to Alessandria that Napoleon was still in bed. The con-
centration—crossing from the right to the left bank of
the Po—of both armies began that evening, with the
happiest results for us.
The positions held by the allies on the 27th May were
as follows— Marshal Baraguay d’Hilliers and General
MacMahon were at Voghera, Casci, Castelnuova di Scrivia
and Sale, on the right bank of the Po; Marshal Canrobert
was at. Ponte Curone; General Niel at Bassignana and
Valenza; the Imperial Guard at Alessandria. Our divi-
sions Fanti, Durando, and Cialdini occupied Motta de’
Conti, Caresana, Pezzana, Prarolo, and Vercelli, on the
right bank of the Sesia; Castelborgo’s division was half
at Casale, half at Terranova; and Cuchiari held the right
bank of the Po, from Monti to Frassineto, with his division.
The first corps to leave Alessandria was Canrobert’s,
in whose staff was General Trochu, whom I had often
seen at Paris, at the house of our mutual friend Alexander
142 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
Bixio, _Canrobert was exactly what the French call uz don
enfant, and had none of the pride and conceit of other
French marshals, particularly apparent in those who
showed least ability in the campaign of 1859. His divi-
sions always arrived in. time and in good order. From
Alessandria he went to Casale, and thence to Prarolo,
where he halted to construct bridges of boats across the —
Po, opposite Palestro, for the passage of the Imperial
Guard and the troops of Niel and Baraguay d’Hilliers,
who were to push forward to Ortengo.
Our divisions Fanti, Durando and Castelborgo marched
towards Vercelli on the night of the 28th, to take up their
respective positions; Fanti at Confienza, Durando at
Vinzaglio, Castelborgo at Casalino. Cialdini recrossed to
the left bank of the river, and on the 29th occupied
Porrione, not far from Palestro. The division Cucchiari,
as I have already said, was left at Frassineto to guard
the Po. ‘On the same day Victor Emanuel, who was
delayed a whole day by the block on the railway, left
Casale for Vercelli. He traversed the French camp on
horseback, and was cheered to the echo by the. officers
and troops. The soldiers crowded round to see him,
and Cler, the brave and beloved general who lost his
life a few days later at Magenta, addressed the king
in words expressive of admiration and praise. At
Vercelli, which we entered about mid-day, the popula-
tion received Victor Emanuel with acclamation. He dis-
mounted at the palace of Count La Motta, and soon
afterwards came despatches announcing the victories of
Garibaldi, who had driven the cruel and hated General
Urban out of the province of Comasco. On reaching
Vercelli I went to inspect a bridge which our engineers
had been ordered to make; to my surprise, I found it
was hardly begun, because the French had insisted on
doing the work, and being unacquainted with the country,
WE STORM PALESTRO 143
they did not know where to get materials. I had rather
an altercation with Froissart, who would not understand
that to gain time it was better to leave the execution of
such things to us. Of all the French generals he was
the most difficult to get on with. .
At daybreak on the 30th I rode over to inspect the
positions of Confienza, where my brother Robert was
stationed with his brigade Pinerolo. On my return I
found the king on the railway bridge watching our troops
march past and Canrobert throwing bridges over the river,
nearly opposite Palestro, on which our right wing was
advancing. About eleven a cannonade announced that
the battle had commenced, and we galloped off in the
direction of Palestro.
Palestro is impregnable in front. There is only one
road through the rice fields, and the place is protected
on that side by an earthwork, whence four pieces of
artillery could stop several thousand men. Cialdini
had cleverly turned the position on the right. We followed
in his footsteps, and entered the village, as our troops,
to the cry of ‘Long live the king!’ ‘Long live Savoy!’
were driving back the enemy at the point of the bayonet ;
while another Austrian brigade was hurrying up to their
aid. The struggle was tremendous. The Austrians de-
fended every house, firing from the windows, the roofs
and the walls, whilst our men pushed forward with
indomitable pluck. The loss of life was great, but we
expelled the enemy. On our left, Durando captured
the position of Vinzaglio, after some brilliant bayonet
charges. Captain Vecchi, one of our staff officers, dis-
mounted, and at the head of his men rushed, sword in
hand, at the barricade erected at the entrance of the
village. Springing on the top, he pulled up those below,
stormed the second barricade, and with his handful of
men drove the enemy before him without receiving a
144 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
scratch. General Fanti drove out the small body of
Austrians who held Casalino, and then hurried to
Confienza, where he again repulsed the enemy. Our
victory was complete, and all the more glorious because
gained without extraneous help.
In the evening, the emperor rode over from Vercelli
to congratulate the king, and on his return sent a regi-
ment of Zouaves, about two thousand four hundred men,
under Colonel Chabron, with orders to place them-
selves at the disposition of Victor Emanuel. Napoleon
foresaw that the enemy would receive reinforcements
during the night, and at daylight try to recapture
Palestro.
The king passed the night in a house adjoining the
big farm of Torrione; and in the early morning of the
31st, while Cialdini and I were taking our orders for
the day, a cannon shot warned us that the enemy was
approaching. Cialdini’s divisions and the Zouaves were
the only troops near Torrione, and forty thousand men
were marching to attack us. We immediately mounted
and sent off a considerable body of troops towards our
left ; but suspecting that the enemy’s advance on that side
might only be a feint, the king and I climbed up the
campanile of the little church and found our surmise to
be correct. The greater portion of the Austrian army was
to our right, with the intention of turning our position
and cutting us off from the bridge over the Sesia, pre-
pared for the passage of Canrobert’s troops. Our
right was weak, but fortunately the Zouaves came up at
double-quick time, followed by four pieces of artillery.
As they debouched on to the piazza in Palestro, the king
descended from the campanzle and took his place in their
ranks. I remained for a short time on the tower, but,
anxious not to lose sight of Victor Emanuel, soon joined
him. We were in the midst of the Zouaves, who rushed
VICTOR EMANUEL AND THE ZOUAVES 145
like lions upon the Austrians, drove them back, and
threw many into the canal. Colonel Chabron approached
the king and said, ‘ Sive, retivez vous, ce n'est pas tt votre
place. ‘Dans le danger; replied His Majesty ; ‘ma place
est au milieu des miens, et aujourd’ hui vous étes des miens.
The slaughter was great. Our brigades Regina and
Savona and the Zouaves covered themselves with glory,
took many prisoners and several cannon.
In the midst of all these horrors comic scenes occurred.
One of the enemy’s ammunition waggons was driven up at
full gallop by two of our infantry soldiers as postillions,
while another on the box shouted, ‘Faster; go on, postil-
lions; let us enjoy our carriage and horses now we've got
them!’ Then came several of our men, with some Zouaves
harnessed to cannon taken from the enemy, hallooing, ‘Make
way for the new artillerymen!’ followed by prisoners of
every arm. The poor fellows made signs that they were »
suffering from hunger and thirst; and the Zouaves, so
terrible whilst fighting, were kindly and compassionate.
They produced bits of bread from their pockets, and ran
to the fountain to get water, which they offered, with
caressing gestures, such as one might use to children.—
‘Tuas faim,mon petit? Mange, mange, mot ca. Et avale ce
verre eau fraiche. We remained masters of the posi-
tions, victorious all along the line. The emperor came
from Vercelli to compliment the king and thank him, for
this victory enabled Canrobert to execute his march
from Vercelli to Novara, and secured the success of the
enterprise.
On his way back to Vercelli, Napoleon met a detach-
ment of the Nizza cavalry escorting prisoners, The young
officer in command halted to render military honours to the
emperor, who returned his salute and said some courteous
words about the successful issue of the day. The sub-
lieutenant replied in such pure French that Napoleon was
K
146 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
struck, and asked who he was. ‘I am the Duke of Chartres,’
was the answer.!
During the night of the 31st May a deputation of
Zouaves came to our modest quarters at Torrione and
insisted on seeing the king. Tired out, he was fast asleep ;
but his servant woke him, and, half dressed, he came out
to see his comrades of the day’s fight. They were soldiers
and corporals, with an officer as spokesman, who presented
Victor Emanuel with the stripes of a corporal of Zouaves.
He thanked him heartily, and they cheered him as they
had done when he fought in their ranks like a simple
corporal—‘ Vzve notre chef. Vive le preux Victor Emanuel
de Savote.
Next day the king visited the battlefield, received with
acclamation by the Zouaves and other troops. We found
wounded men lying in the wheat, who had passed a night
of agony without succour and without a drop of water. For
several days water was hard to get; so many corpses had
been thrown into the canals that even the mills were clogged
by them. In the evening the emperor transferred his head-
quarters to Novara, which the French had taken after very
slight resistance.
On the 2d June the chief part of the French army con-
-centrated at Novara, while an advanced guard pushed on
towards the Ticino, which the Austrians had crossed the
day before by a forced march. They tried to blow up the
bridge of S. Martino di Trecate behind them, but their
powder was so bad that the damage done was slight.
Nevertheless, Napoleon caused another bridge to be thrown
across for the passage of his troops. Thatsame night three
of our divisions—Castelborgo, Fanti and Durando —ad-
1 Robert Ferdinand d’Orleans, Duke of Chartres, had been sent to our
Royal Military Academy to study, and had just left it with the grade of sub-
lieutenant in the cavalry. He was a handsome, intelligent youth, and glad to
undergo his first baptism of fire in the company of his compatriots.
GIULAY RETREATS ON MAGENTA 147
vanced from Palestro towards Galliate, followed by Can-
robert. Cialdini remained at Vercelli to guard the Sesia,
and Cucchiari was at Casale to guard the Po.
Giulay, who only understood after the battle of Palestro
that the whole allied army was on his flank, retreated,
abandoning Vercelli and Novara. With unusual rapidity
of conception and movement, he summoned his troops
from Vigevano and Abbiategrasso and massed his forces
at Magenta. It was an excellent tactical position; more
extensive, more open, in every way better than Palestro,
and well protected by the double line of the Ticino and the
canal called the Naviglio, which supplied Milan with water.
On the 3d the Austrian commander-in-chief had made all
his arrangements for concentrating his forces at Magenta
to oppose the advance of the allied army on Milan, when
Field-Marshal Baron Hess, chief of the staff, arrived from
Verona with full powers from the Emperor Francis Joseph.
News of the defeat at Palestro had reached him, but he
was not aware that the army was in full retreat, and his
orders were to hold the -district of Lomellina! at any
sacrifice. Giulay had to confess that it was already aban-
doned, and that the allies were menacing Milan. Baron
Hess changed some of the dispositions made by Giulay,
and sent orders to part of the Austrian troops to remain at
Vigevano and Abbiategrasso, thus diminishing their avail-
able number at Magenta, where they only had fifty thou-
sand men on the 4th May. Napoleon had given orders
that the corps of MacMahon, Niel and Baraguay d’Hilliers,
and our divisions Castelborgo, Durando and Fanti, were to
cross the Ticino from the right to the left bank on that
same day. He was ignorant of Giulay’s movements, so the
engagement of Robecchetto, which took place early in the
morning between the troops of MacMahon and those of
Clam Gallas, and the battle of Magenta in the afternoon,
1 Lomellina is in the province of Pavia.—TZranslator’s Note.
148 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
were surprises. The affair of Robecchetto retarded the
crossing of the river by MacMahon’s corps, so the divisions
of Fanti and Durando, who were to follow in his wake, had
to wait from six in the morning until eleven. While the
king stood near the bridge to see the troops march past,
we heard that General Urban was in the neighbourhood.
Garibaldi had driven him out of the district of Comasco,
and he was reported to be somewhere near Monza. I im-
mediately sent out small detachments to reconnoitre, and
before one o’clock, while Fanti and Durando were crossing
the river with their divisions, the news was confirmed.
As soon as our troops reached the left bank their pro-
gress was arrested. We could not make out the nature of
the obstacle, so the king sent me to Fanti to ask what had
happened. MacMahon’s military train stopped the way,
and there was no hope of our troops advancing for hours.
I went in search of MacMahon, who was pushing forward
to get up with the enemy, whom he found near the
bridge of Buffalora. The marshal was anxiously awaiting
his second column under General Espinasse, who had mis-
taken the road, and was much put out at the enforced
delay of our divisions, on whose aid he was counting,
particularly as Espinasse was not to be seen. But he could
suggest no remedy save patience; his baggage was so
hopelessly entangled in the midst of the troops that the
road could not be cleared. I returned to tell Fanti to try
and advance by lanes and across fields to join MacMahon,
and ordered Durando to change front and intercept Urban
on the left. MacMahon had opened fire at Buffalora for
more than an hour, but ordered it to cease while, with a
small cavalry escort, he went in search of Espinasse. This
placed the emperor, with part of the Guard and a brigade
of 'Zouaves, in considerable peril, he having hurried from
the bridge of S. Martino to the Naviglio as soon as the
cannonade began at Buffalora. Before he arrived the
BATTLE OF MAGENTA 149
Austrians had blown up all the bridges, and he was forced
to throw over new ones while exposed to a murderous fire
from the enemy’s guns on the left bank of the canal, which
was considerably above him. Several small but bloody
engagements took place on either bank, and the hours
passed slowly to the emperor, who began to be nervous
about the issue of events.
Suddenly, towards evening, came the good news that
MacMahon had found Espinasse, outflanked the Austrians
on the right, and was pressing them hard on every side.
Soon afterwards we knew that he had driven them out of
their position; and, helped by Fanti, who arrived late, but
in time to be of use, had destroyed the barricades at the
station and driven the enemy from their last entrenchments
The allies were victorious, and the troops passed the night
on the battlefield.
On the 5th, when the emperor knew the particulars of
the battle, he made up his mind that the victory was due
to MacMahon, whom he created a Marshal of France and
Duke of Magenta. Considerable envy was aroused by
the bestowal of such high honours, and MacMahon’s want
of forethought and clearness in giving orders were much °
criticised ; by his delay he upset the plan of attack and
nearly caused it to fail.
The Austrians retreated in the direction of the Adda
during the night after the battle of Magenta. Faithful to
his first idea of fighting a great battle on the plains of
Lombardy, in the vicinity of the Quadrilateral, Giulay left
the road to Milan open to the allied army, and was only
attacked by the French at Melegnano, when Baraguay
d’Hilliers drove the last of their troops towards the Adda
on the day of the entry into Milan.
The crossing of the Ticino by a large body of the allied
troops was retarded by the unexpected battle of Magenta,
which was asurprise. The baggage and military train of all
130 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
the French corps were far too numerous, and their leaders
miscalculated the time they would take to pass over, so
that we were kept waiting the whole of the 5th May
before our divisions could cross the river. The king was
obliged to remain at Galliate during the night of the 4th
and next morning at daybreak he went to see the emperor
at S. Martino di Trecate, and visited the battlefield of
Magenta with him. Victor Emanuel hoped to see our
troops defiling across the bridges in the afternoon. I went
to ask at what hour I was to order our divisions to be
ready, and found the emperor seated on a rickety chair
near a bridge with Baraguay d’Hilliers, whose men were
marching past. Turning to the marshal, Napoleon said,
‘ Voyons, a quelle heure nos troupes auront-elles fint de
passer ?’ Pulling out his watch, Baraguay answered, ‘ //
nest pas encore deux heures. Canrobert qui va venir apres
mot, aura fint a quatre heures, Neel a six. ‘ Vous entendez
général, said the emperor to me, ‘ Baraguay croit qu apres
six heures les ponts seront libres’ 1 saw that Baraguay was
quite out in his reckoning, and that the French army could
not cross the Ticino, there being only two bridges, before
late in the night. Pretending to have understood six in
the morning, I answered, ‘ C’est bzen, sive, demain matin
bien avant six heures nos troupes seront prétes pour passer
le fleuve’ ‘Mais non, mais non, exclaimed Napoleon,
‘ Baraguay entend dire ce soir a six heures. 1 bowed,
but my face must have shown that I was not convinced.
As a fact, the bridges were not free until two o’clock that
night.
The next morning the king again visited the emperor
at S. Martino, and in his presence received the Milanese
deputation, which came to announce the evacuation of
Milan by the Austrians, and the proclamation by the
municipal council of Victor Emanuel as king. They
begged him to come as soon as possible and take
AUSTRIANS EVACUATE MILAN |. 151
possession of the city. Victor Emanuel accepted the
sovereignty, and promised that the troops should start
immediately on their way to Milan.
Leaving Magenta, the king crossed the Ticino by a
bridge of boats and went to our headquarters at Lainate.
The emperor sent to warn us that an Austrian corps, under
General Urban, menaced our flank, and as the letter con-
tained no instructions the king was in doubt whether to
remain on the defensive or go in search of the enemy. To
put an end to this uncertainty I asked his leave to take a
small division of six squadrons of light cavalry, artillery and
Bersaglieri, and scour the country. I soon found out that
the enemy’s rearguard was only a few hours’ march dis-
tant, and that they were exhausted by fatigue and priva-
tions. My men, on the contrary, were fresh, well fed and
eager to fight, so there was every probability of my
catching up the Austrians and forcing them to fight or
surrender. We gained rapidly upon Urban, who had
halted at Vespolate to flog some men who had fallen
out of the ranks; and in forty minutes we expected to
come up to him, when some French officers galloped up
with a white flag of truce. General Desvaux had sent
them, in the name of the emperor, to call upon the
Austrian commander to surrender. We were, of course,
obliged to stop and await their return. In vain we waited
till night closed in, when I sent back to Lainate to inform
the king, who despatched Count Charies di Robilant to the
French headquarters at Magenta to ask for an explanation.
The emperor was already in bed, but received Robilant at
once, and said there must have been some misunderstand-
ing. He had given Desvaux permission to pursue Urban
with his regiment, but could not conceive why a flag of
truce had been sent. The mystery was afterwards solvea
Desvaux took the wrong road, and only discovered his
mistake too late. Then, counting on the exhausted con-
152 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
dition of Urban’s troops, he thought they would surrender.
But he was wrong ; and the delay of the French officers in
notifying his refusal deprived me of the honour and satis- _
faction of inflicting a lesson on the imperious and cruel
Austrian general.
eek di AL
1859 (THIRD PART)
Entry into Milan—7Ze Deum in Cathedral—We enter Brescia—Deputations
from Trieste and Bologna—The Empress advises Napoleon to return
to France—Solferino—S. Martino—We invest Peschiera—Austrians
send Flag of Truce—Armistice—Violent Scene between Victor
Emanuel and Cavour—Cavour resigns—Napoleon and _ Victor
Emanuel enter Milan—Cold Reception at Turin.
On the 7th June we arrived outside the walls of Milan,
and next morning entered the city by the Porta Sempione,
where a division of infantry and one of cavalry was drawn
up. The procession was opened by a squadron of the
Cents Gardes, followed by all the aides-de-camp of the king,
then by those of the emperor ; the two sovereigns rode to-
gether, and after them came the officers of the staff of both
armies, and another squadron of Guards closed the cortege.
At about nine o'clock we passed under the magnificent
triumphal arch raised to the memory of Napoleon I., and
transformed by the House of Austria to a monument to
their own glory. The streets were crowded with people
and decked with the Italian and French colours. A con-
tinuous rain of flowers and enthusiastic cheers for the
emperor and for the king, for the Piedmontese and the
French, accompanied us all the way. Involuntarily I
thought of poor Charles Albert when, in August 1848, he
turned to me on the steps of the Greppi Palace and said,
‘Ah, La Rocca, quelle journée ?’
153
154 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
Lodgings had been prepared for the emperor in the
villa of the public gardens built for Prince Eugéne Beau-
harnais, Viceroy of Italy, by Napoleon I., and afterwards
inhabited by the Austrian archdukes. The king took
up his residence in the splendid palace Serbelloni-Busca.
The sovereigns went in state to the cathedral on the
oth June to hear the Ze Deum for the liberation of Milan,
when a disagreeable incident happened for us Italians.
When the mass was over, the Abbé Laine, chaplain to
the emperor, intoned the Domine, salvum fac Imperatorem
nostrum, Napoleonem, answered by the band of the Guides,
The same ovemus ought to have been sung for Victor
Emanuel, but his chaplain never thought of arranging
with the emperor’s chaplain or with our military band;
so nothing was done, and we left the church with a painful
impression.
Napoleon and Victor Emanuel remained a day or two
at Milan, where General Castelborgo was left as governor.
I was obliged to leave after the service to obtain precise
information about the engagement of Melegnano, and give
orders in case the enemy should attack us on the other side
of Milan.
From the day we left the Lombard capital until the
Austrians retreated beyond the Mincio—from the 11th to
the 21st June—with the exception of a few days spent
at Brescia, we were always engaged in forced marches
ordered by the emperor. Evidently we were sent as an
advanced guard, while his own troops marched leisurely ;
so that we arrived under the walls of Brescia many days
before them. He was puzzled as to the ultimate designs
of the Austrian commander-in-chief, who seemed inclined
to cross the Chiese and concentrate his forces at Monte-
chiari in readiness for the great battle which had been
talked of for more than a month. There were constant
false alarms; and as soon as our troops advanced the
WE ENTER BRESCIA 155
enemy retreated, wearing our men out in fatiguing and
useless marches.
Victor Emanuel left Milan for Vimercate on the IIth,
and after crossing the Adda and the Oglio, arrived near
Brescia on the 15th without meeting the Austrians. He
did not wish to enter the city so long before Napoleon
arrived, so established his headquarters at Castegnato near
by—an excellent position for observing the enemy’s move-
ments—under the impression that Giulay intended giving
battle at Montechiari. Our troops were stationed in the
strong positions of Castenedolo when he retired and
crossed to the left bank of the Chiesi. We thus lost a
good opportunity of fighting him.
Meanwhile, Garibaldi had attacked and beaten the
Austrians at Tre Ponti, aided by Cialdini, who had been
sent, by desire of the emperor, to assist the movements
of the volunteers in the valleys of the Oglio and the Mella,
whence the Austrians might have attacked us on the flank.
As soon as Cialdini reached Salo, on the lake of Garda,
he constructed a battery to sink the enemy’s boats, who
precipitately retired. ?
On the 17th June, the day before the arrival of the
French, we entered Brescia. The reception was, if possible,
more enthusiastic than at Milan. Not a window but was
decorated with the national colours, and flowers rained
thick on us and our horses. We spent three days there,
well lodged and well fed—a pleasant change after so many
privations. On the 20th I celebrated my fifty-second
birthday, thankful for my robust constitution, which enabled
me to resist fatigue better than many a younger man.
The French troops were forced to halt for a few days
for want of provisions. Their commissariat was inferior
to ours, and there was considerable disorder and peculation.
Many years afterwards I was at the Chartreuse of Grenoble,
and the abbot told me one of his monks had been in the
156 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A. VETERAN
campaign of 1859, but was so horrified by the carnage at
Magenta that he left the service and entered the convent.
As the monks passed to go into church, the abbot pointed
the man out, and I recognised a French officer who had
disappeared, with some ‘others, when an inquiry into the
disorders of the commissariat department was made.
Leaving Brescia, we crossed the Chiese at Calcinato, where
the king established his headquarters. On the 2Ist June
all the divisions were on the left bank; the Ist and the 5th
at Lonato, the 2d at Calcinato, the 3d at Desenzano, and
the cavalry between Bedizzole and Lonato. Deputations
from the cities of Trent and Bologna came to Calcinato to
express their desire to be annexed to Piedmont. The
king thanked the latter, but said for the. moment he could
only accord them military protection, with a view to their
assisting in the great cause of Italian independence. The
deputies from Trent he received with courtesy, without
pronouncing a word that could raise any hope that he
would accede to their wishes. Italian Tyrol formed part
of the German Confederation, with which it was not our
interest to interfere.
On the 23d the emperor came to visit Victor Emanuel
at Lonato, and inspect the positions to be occupied, with a
view to crossing the Mincio and besieging Peschiera or
Verona. It was near lunch time when Napoleon, dis-
missing the suite, asked the king to ride up a hill near by,
whence a view of all the positions might be obtained. No
one had been invited to follow the sovereigns, but after
they had gone a few steps, Victor Emanuel, always ac-
‘customed to have me by his side as a guide, looked back
and beckoned to me to join them. I soon saw that the
emperor did not care about examining the positions, but
that his object was to be alone with the king in some quiet
place. We were more than half way up the hill, and I
thought they would ride to the summit while I remained
EMPRESS ADVISES NAPOLEON'S RETURN 157
on the slope. But the emperor pulled up his horse close
to where I was, and taking a letter from his pocket, read
it aloud to Victor Emanuel. I feigned to examine the
country through my field-glasses, but could not avoid
hearing every word. The letter was from the empress, who-
had been named regent during her husband’s absence, and
was evidently one of aseries. Alluding to certain designs of
the German Confederation, and to the approach of Prussian
troops towards Coblenz and Cologne, she complained of
the insufficient forces left in France in case of a possible
Prussian invasion, and requested the emperor to come to
an immediate decision, and send back part of the Armée
a Italie. She bade him consider the terrible consequences
of a defeat on the Rhine, and advised him to take advan-
tage of the victories already won to conclude peace, and
return to France to stem the growing discontent at the
menacing advance of Prussia.
Victor Emanuel listened in silence; he understood, as
I did, that all was finished, and that the emperor would
not risk his own throne to serve Italy. Slowly and
silently the two sovereigns descended the hill, without
giving another thought to the siege of Peschiera or
Verona. Reading the letter of the empress, without
any comment, was a tacit retraction by the emperor of
his promise to free Italy from the Alps to the Adriatic.
It was the first intimation that he meant to stop short
at the Mincio. : |
At the lunch given by the king to the emperor at
Lonato I sat opposite the latter, next to an officer of his
suite. We were talking of the more or less probability of
a pitched battle, and my neighbour asked my opinion.
‘ Hitherto,’ I answered, ‘my forecasts have been pretty
good ones. I suspect we shall see no more battles on the
right bank of the Mincio.” The emperor, whose sense of
hearing was extraordinarily acute, laughed and said, ‘ What
158 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A-VETERAN
a prophet! How can there be any battle when there is no
enemy on this side?’
No one could imagine that a few hours later the Aus-
trians would cross the river and attack us in our positions
on the right bank. The order of the day, published in the
evening of the 23d for the 24th June, was as follows :—
‘1st, 3d and 5th divisions are to leave Lonato for the siege
of Peschiera, keeping on the right bank of the Mincio.
The 2d division, with the cavalry, will remain at Lonato
in reserve ; headquarters to be moved to Rivoltella.” But
that night the enemy threw a large number of bridges over
the Mincio, and before daylight their army had crossed.
Colonel Cadorna fell in with some Austrian outposts, and
the fusillade gave the alarm. By the king’s order, I at
once sent an officer to Castiglione, where the emperor had
just arrived from Montechiari, to warn him, and soon after-
wards came a note from him, saying, ‘Eighty thousand
(there were over one hundred thousand) Austrians have
suddenly appeared on my front. Send a strong reinforce-
ment in the direction of Solferino. The king replied, ‘I
send part of divisions Fanti and Durando. At this
moment I am informed that the enemy is advancing in
force on our right, at Madonna della Scoperta, and on
our left at S. Martino. I must retain the rest of my
troops in those positions for our own defence.’
Napoleon had advanced cautiously, and kept his army
well together until he reached the Chiese, when, seeing the
enemy withdraw to such a distance, he thought he might
allow a larger space to intervene between the different corps.
Thus, when the engagement on the 24th began, he found
himself with only the Imperial Guard and MacMahon’s
corps at hand. Baraguay d’Hilliers, however, soon hurried
up, and reinforcements were despatched to Solferino, where
the battle began to rage furiously about mid-day. The
Emperor Francis Joseph led the Austrian army in person,
BATTLE OF SOLFERINO 159
and the struggle was a tremendous one. Napoleon, with
the two army corps, gained a complete victory at Solferino,
and was master of the field of battle about one o'clock;
while at Robecco, Casanova, Montefontana and Cavriano
the corps of Canrobert and Niel beat off repeated attacks,
and at length forced the centre of the Austrian army to retire.
We were not so fortunate in the early part of the day.
Durando’s advanced guard repulsed a first attack by four
brigades of Stadion’s corps at Madonna della Scoperta, but,
overcome by superior numbers, were driven back into
the Val di Quadro. Benedek, concentrated at Pozzolengo,
repeatedly charged Mollard and Cucchiari at S: Martino,
whose forces were insufficient to defend so extended a line,
and at last gave way. Towards mid-day I was warned
there was no unity of command, and consequently no con-
centration of forces, which were, on the contrary, broken up
into various detachments. Knowing that General Alphonse
La Marmora was on the spot as a simple spectator, I sent
one of the king’s aides-de-camp to order him to assume the
command of the twocorps Durando and Fanti. This he did
with considerable success, but the enemy was so superior
to us in number that a victory could not be hoped for.
The king and I were on rising ground in front of
Castelvenzago, whence we could follow the phases of the
battle through our field-glasses. The enemy had retired
from Madonna della Scoperta, but occupied the position of
S. Martino in great strength. Our 2d division had
been ordered up to support the other two, and Victor
Emanuel was fuming with impatience at seeing our men
worsted and not being among them. In spite of my
remonstrances, he insisted on descending into the plain
to join the troops and encourage them. Followed by
several aides-de-camp, he started for S. Martino, which
was much further off than he thought, while I remained
to fulfil my duties.as head of the staff at Castelvenzago.
160 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
My anxiety that our troops should be victorious increased
when news came of the great victory at Solferino, and the
probable successes of Canrobert and Niel; so when see-
ing how useless his presence was in the plain, the king
returned, I submitted to him a project of attacking three
different points with our four divisions at five o’clock, and
driving the Austrians out of the position of S. Martino at
any sacrifice. He approved, and orders were sent to exe-
cute my plan. Our troops had started, when suddenly the
sky became black as ink, and the fury of the wind was
such that men were blown off their horses, while the rain
fell in torrents. The hurricane lasted twenty minutes,
during which movements were impossible. Only Fanti,
with part of his division, reached his destination. Durando
never arrived, and La Marmora, with a small following,
‘ marched towards Monzambano, to attack the left flank
of Benedek.
The storm ceased at half-past five, and our troops
attacked with splendid dash. Step by step they gained
ground, and took battery after battery. Before night the
enemy was driven out of his position, and retreated in
complete disorder. Towards nine we heard the last cannon
shots, and darkness forced us to stop the pursuit. This
victory cost us five thousand five hundred and twenty-two
men—one thousand three hundred and fifty soldiers and
fifty officers killed, the rest wounded, and five hundred
prisoners, but not a single officer among them.
The king bivouacked for the night at Castelvenzago,
and the emperor established his headquarters at Cavriana,
in the same house Francis Joseph had occupied that
morning. The French drove the Austrians out after the
great storm. I went off to Lonato, our headquarters, to
sive orders for the ambulances and the food supplies for
the next day, and telegraphed immediately to Cavour :—
‘A great battle; victorious all along the line; enemy in-
VICTORY OF S. MARTINO 161
full retreat ; recrossing the Mincio.’ I hoped the glorious
news would be known at Turin next morning, but for some
unknown motive my telegram was not published till the
26th, and on the evening of the 25th the papers had a
copy of the despatch sent by the emperor to the empress
in Paris. At two in the morning I returned to Castel-
venzago to make my report to Victor Emanuel. Embrac-
ing me, he said he had decided to give me the Order of
the Annunziata, and invited me to lie down by his side on
the bare earth, where we slept till daylight. We expected
to be attacked again, and all was ready, to repulse the
enemy; but we soon heard that the Emperor Francis
Joseph was at Villafranca, and that his whole army had
crossed to the left bank of the Mincio. .
The king took up his headquarters at Rivoltella, and
early in the morning we rode over the battlefield of
S. Martino. Many unfortunate wounded men still lay
where they had fallen; the houses and the churches near
by were all full. The 3d division alone had two thousand
two hundred wounded; among them was my nephew
Constantine. A ball had broken his jaw, and he could
not speak, but was perfectly conscious. He was so dis-
figured that I did not recognise him; so, writing on his
notebook, ‘I am your nephew Constantine, he handed
it to me, as with the king I passed close to him. The
brigade of my brother Robert also suffered severely.
The 26th was a Sunday, and after hearing mass in the
parish church, we rode to Desenzano to visit the hospitals,
which were crowded with wounded, as well as all the
houses of the village. On the 27th the king returned to
S. Martino, where a large body of troops were still en-
camped. Count Fabio Tracagni, owner of the land where
the last tremendous struggle had taken place, was pre-
sented to the king. Farmhouses and villa were a mass
of ruins; gardens, meadows, and fields were devastated.
L
162. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
The king expressed his sorrow for the damage done, but
Count Tracagni did not allow him to finish his sentence.
He declared that he regretted nothing, but, on the contrary,
felt proud to possess a property hallowed for ever by the
valour of the Italian army. Touched by these words, the
king held out his hand, which the count tried to. kiss, but
Victor Emanuel prevented this, and shook hands cordially.
In the afternoon the Emperor sent General Froissart
of the engineers, and General Leboeuf of the artillery, to
concert measures with Menabrea and myself about the
siege of Peschiera. After the excursion of the two
sovereigns on the 23d, and still more after the battle
next day, I was convinced that the siege would not take
place, and that negotiations for peace were being carried
on. I did not even mention the matter to the king.
He perhaps still cherished some hope; I had none. But,
of course, I carried out the orders sent to me, and prepared
everything for the investment of Peschiera.
On the 27th and 28th June the troops destined for the
siege crossed the Mincio without being disturbed by the
enemy. On the 29th I went with the commanding officers
of the engineers and artillery to trace the lines of cir-
cumvallation agreed upon with Froissart, and that same
evening our guns opened fire. The enemy answered
immediately, and as we were beyond the outposts there
were a few skirmishes, in one of which two officers of
Grenadiers were killed and several soldiers wounded.
On the 1st July we transferred our headquarters to
a house in Pozzolengo, which had been inhabited by
Charles Albert in 1848, and by Benedek on the eve of
Solferino. The 3d and 5th divisions crossed the Mincio
at Salionze, together with the Ist French corps, to invest
Peschiera from the left bank. The headquarters of
the emperor were at Valeggio, where the 3d corps was
stationed with one division at Goito. Next day we moved
AUSTRIANS SEND A FLAG OF TRUCE 163
to Monzambano, and remained there till the 12th July.
The French army was holding the positions we occupied
in 1848; but Napoleon, whose one idea was to concentrate
his troops, thought the line too extended, and on the
nights of the 3d and 4th withdrew and formed a line
with one wing on the lake of Garda, then from Castel-
novo along the Tirone, through Oliosi and La Gherla, on
the road from Villafranca, to Valeggio, and from Pozzuolo
and Goito extending to the Mincio.
Meanwhile, General Hess, who was at Verona with
the Emperor of Austria, sent the son of General Urban
with a flag of truce and a letter to Marshal Vaillant.
Napoleon wished to speak to the young officer himself,
and forgetting the oldest and most elementary rule of
military discipline, the French allowed him to traverse
their whole camp without being blindfolded. When too
late they perceived their error, and committed the
absurdity of blindfolding him on his return, when he had
seen everything. The Austrians behaved very differently
two days later. When the king visited the wounded
Austrian officers, who had fallen into our hands, they
begged so earnestly to be allowed to return to their
compatriots that he resolved ‘to give them up uncon-
ditionally, and ordered me to write to General Hess and
send Count di Robilant with a flag of truce. He started
for Verona with a small escort, which was stopped at the
outposts, and he was blindfolded and sent on alone in a
closed carriage.
General Hess knew Robilant, and introduced him to
the Emperor Francis Joseph, who, with true military
courtesy, praised our troops, particularly the Bersaglieri
and artillery, and asked after the king, to whom he sent
his compliments. On leaving, the count was again blind-
folded and driven back to where his escort was waiting.
On the 6th, Victor Emanuel mounted his horse early
1644 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
and went to meet his son-in-law, Prince Jerome Napoleon,
who preceded the 5th French corps and the Tuscan
troops under General Ulloa. I was busy all day carrying
out the emperor’s orders to prepare for a defensive battle,
in which I did not believe. While visiting the positions
next day, General Cadogan, the English officer attached
to our army, asked me where he could get a good view of
the intended battle. I advised the top of a hill over-
hanging the river, and next morning he went there at
daylight and remained some hours without seeing any-
thing. On returning to headquarters he was very angry
at hearing that I had gone with Vaillant and Martimprey
to Villafranco to meet General Hess and sign a truce
agreed upon between the sovereigns. Napoleon had sent his
aide-de-camp, General Fleury, on the evening of the 7th,
to the Emperor of Austria with a letter proposing a
suspension of hostilities, to be followed by an armistice.
Francis Joseph demanded the night for reflection, and
next morning delivered his acceptance to Fleury, who
brought it to Valeggio. Napoleon then sent him a
second letter, stating the conditions on which he would
treat for peace, adding, that if the Emperor Francis Joseph
was inclined to accept them, he wished for a personal
interview ; if not, he would prefer not to meet him, as it
would render the continuance of war more painful. The
conditions were accepted, and the meeting fixed for the
11th July at Villafranca. Our troops meanwhile took
up the positions indicated in the armistice.
On the roth Count Cavour arrived at our headquarters,
accompanied by his secretary, Constantine Negri, afterwards
Italian ambassador at Paris, and by Alexander Bixio, who
in 1848 was the envoy extraordinary of the French
Republic at the Sardinian Court, and a strong partisan of
the unity of Italy. He came straight to me to announce
Cavour’s arrival, and warned me of the state of irritation
SCENE BETWEEN THE KING AND CAVOUR 165
and excitement the news of the armistice had thrown him
into. He had forbidden the publication of the news by
the Turinese papers, but it had been divulged by the
French journals, who only mentioned the Emperor
Napoleon, without even alluding to the king. Cavour at
once went to Victor Emanuel. The meeting was a stormy
one. The prime minister denounced everyone in bitter
words of reprobation, and, irritated by the calmness with
which the king listened and answered, at last lost all self-
control and forgot the respect due to royalty. Victor
Emanuel and Cavour were alone, and their conversation
could not have been heard by anyone, so that all the
accounts published of their interview are imaginary.
Later in the day the king told me Cavour had been
absolutely insolent and disrespectful, and that, feeling
he could no longer contain himself, he had turned his
back on the prime minister and left him.
Cavour then came to my tiny room, which contained a
camp bedstead and two chairs. Bixio was sitting on one,
and immediately rose and went into the passage outside.
Just as Cavour was declaiming against the king and every-
one else, the door opened and Prince Jerome Napoleon
entered. He took part in the discussion, which was em-
bittered by his abrupt roughness. Cavour declined to
entertain the idea of a prolonged armistice, or of treating
for peace, save under the condition of the liberation of
Northern Italy—from the Alps to the Adriatic—as
announced by Napoleon III. The prince replied that we
ought to be only too glad to get Lombardy and the
Duchies. I remember he wound up by exclaiming, ‘Do
you expect us to sacrifice France and our dynasty for
you?’ Cavour doggedly replied that promises were
promises, and ought to be kept. He threatened to pro-
mote and head a revolution rather than leave the work
half done, and complained bitterly of the emperor, of the
166 AUTOBIOGRAPAY OF A VETERAN
king, of La Marmora, of me. I could not blame him. For
years he had worked to form an independent kingdom of
Italy, and now he saw his labour stultified, his enterprise
diminished and again reduced to anxious expectation.
_ He could not be expected to resign himself and bow to
dire necessity as we had done, who, day by day, had
watched all the phases of the emperor’s enforced with-
drawal. Cavour, as a last resource, wished to carry on the
war alone; but 1848 was too fresh in our memories, and,
as military men, we declined the responsibility. It would
have been folly, or worse, to pit fifty thousand or sixty
thousand men against over two hundred thousand, who,
although beaten, had shown such discipline and courage
at Palestro and S. Martino. Victor Emanuel absolutely
refused to stake the certain against the uncertain. The
annexation of Lombardy and the Duchies doubled his
army and increased the chances of ultimately liberating
Venice and uniting Tuscany and the Legations, which
had repeatedly invoked his aid, to the kingdom of
northern Italy. For my part, I trusted in the great
political sagacity of Napoleon III. The ability with
which he had prepared the Franco-Sardinian alliance,
and gained his end, convinced me that necessity, not
caprice, induced him to abandon us.
But Cavour would not listen to argument, and finding
the king, the emperor, and Prince Jerome Napoleon inex-
orable, resigned, and left for Turin as soon as he knew
the first conditions of peace had been established.
After the meeting of the two emperors at Villafranca,
some modifications were made in the preliminaries, and on
the 12th they and Victor Emanuel signed the treaty which
united Lombardy, the Duchy of Parma, and Piacenza to
Sardinia and Piedmont. On the original document the
king added, by the side of his signature, ‘/’accepte pour ce
gut me concerne; thus accepting the increase of territory
ENTRY INTO MILAN 167
- without entering into the other questions or prejudicing
his future action.
The emperor, Victor’ Emanuel and Prince Jerome
dined together at Monzambano on the 12th, and after-
wards. Napoleon left for Desenzano, where he established
his headquarters until he went to Milan. Next day the
king announced his departure to the troops in an order of
the day, and visited the emperor at Desenzano, where they
drew up the proclamation to the Lombard people. The
rough draught was dictated by the emperor, and after
Victor Emanuel had altered and rewritten a sentence, he
handed it to me to telegraph to the syndic of Milan.
That afternoon the king left by special train, received
with enthusiasm all along the line, and at seven reached
Milan. Amid the acclamations of the populace he drove
to the royal palace, where he occupied the apartment once
inhabited by the viceroy of Lombardy, father of Queen
Maria Adelaide. Next day we went to the station to meet
the emperor, and the two sovereigns drove together in
the same carriage. There was much cheering for Victor
Emanuel and some for Napoleon. On the whole, the
resentment against the emperor, who had put a stop to a
war begun under such fortunate auspices, was not too
openly displayed.
Early on the 15th the king visited the sick and wounded
in the hospitals, and as we were leaving the palace one of
the French officers asked whether I had not forgotten to
order the escort. He was extremely astonished when I
told him that Victor Emanuel always went about alone
with his aide-de-camp. Later, when the emperor drove to
the French hospital, the carriage was surrounded by his
Guards. At two the sovereigns again traversed the city
together on their way to the station, and were warmly
cheered, At Turin, on the contrary, their reception was
icy. Hardly a cheer was raised for the king—not one for
168 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
the emperor. After the State dinner Napoleon withdrew
to his apartments, and had a long interview with Cavour.
Early next morning he left for France, accompanied by the
king as far as Susa. He intended to spend two days at
Turin, but the coldness of his reception the evening before
probably hastened his departure. When we returned to
Turin the king granted me a few weeks’ leave, and I went
to join my family at Luserna.
CHAPTER XV
END OF 1859. BEGINNING OF 1860
Marshal Vaillant—Napoleon objects to the Annexation of Tuscany—Cavour
returns to Power—Persuades Napoleon to agree to the Annexation of
Tuscany—I am named Commander of the 5th Army Corps—Annexation
of Tuscany, Emilia, and the Romagna—Garibaldi upbraids Cavour.
AFTER spending some weeks with my family at Luserna
I returned to Turin on the 1st August, and on the 7th
accompanied the king to Milan, where he was received
with demonstrations of frantic enthusiasm. Marshal
Vaillant, in command of the French troops, which were
gradually being withdrawn from Italy, was still living in
the Villa Reale, and I went one morning to see him. He
was just going out, and, dressed in a light suit, looked quite
a young man, spite of his seventy years. We strolled
about the park, and I found he believed in the possi-
bility and the advantages of a confederation of the Italian
States under the presidency of the Pope, as announced by
Napoleon III. in his last order of the day to the troops. I
had the strongest doubts as to the working of such a plan,
and I believe the emperor, whose suggestion it was, and
who earnestly advocated it with Victor Emanuel and
Cavour, had already realised its impossibility. At Villa-
franca it had been agreed that the deposed princes
might return to their States, but were not to call in the
aid of foreign troops. Now it was most unlikely that,
after declaring in favour of annexation to an Italian
169
170 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
kingdom under Victor Emanuel, and sending deputa-
tions to beg his assistance, the people would tamely con-
sent to again receive the rulers they had expelled.
Vaillant, like many Frenchmen, did not believe in the
spontaneity or the unanimity of the revolutionary move-
ment in Italy. Not wishing to contradict him, I turned
the conversation to military matters, and soon after left
him to continue his walk to a mill near by, where he went
every morning to catch crayfish. ‘There, he said, ‘1 sit
on the bank of the little stream and fish while preparing
my orders for the morrow. They are not complicated,
as everything is well prepared and goes by itself. Then
I ponder over the events of my long life. The hours pass,
and I go home to lunch with secu memories . . . and
very few crayfish.’
Born in 1790, Vaillant became an officer in 1811, and
~ was in the Russian campaign and at Waterloo. Set aside
by the government of the Restoration, he was again em-
ployed after 1830 and sent to Algiers. When the empire
was re-established after the coup détat he became a Mar-
shal of France, and was several times minister of war;
in 1859 he held the post of general chief of the staff to
the French army. Although not of high birth, he was a
perfect gentleman, and shone among the other marshals
and generals by his courteous and charming manners.
In 1870 I heard that being too old for active service, he
was on the ramparts of Paris in plain clothes and was
mistaken for a spy by the Communists, who arrested and
imprisoned him. He was exiled, and returned in 1871
to Paris to die the following year.
The king, after visiting other cities in Lombardy—
Brescia, Bergamo, etc.—greeted everywhere with great
enthusiasm, returned to Turin on the 17th August.
During the autumn he received deputations and dele-
gates from cities in the Emilia, in the Romagna, and in
POWERS OBJECT TO A STRONG ITALY 171
Tuscany, all wanting to be annexed to the Constitutional
monarchy of the Re Galantuomo (Honest King).
D’Azeglio, Boncompagni, Farini, Ricasoli, and many
others had' been ably working to this end with untiring
patriotism ; and the people now came to solicit annexation
to the kingdom of Victor Emanuel and the aid of his army
against those who opposed the desires and will of the
nation. During the war the king had refused to accept
any proposals of allegiance, but now, with certain official
restrictions imposed by foreign politics (explained away
afterwards in private audiences), he promised that the
popular desire should be gratified ere long, and the dele-
gates left Turin trusting in the prompt realisation of his
royal word. This was somewhat delayed by the hesita-
tion of the Rattazzi-La Marmora-Dabormida ministry,
who came to power after the resignation of Cavour at
Villafranca. What with the serious discontent of Austria, —
who threatened to break off the negotiations at Zurich for
peace if the Convention of Villafranca was not rigorously
observed by the King of Sardinia; and the hostility of
France to the creation of a stronger Italy, our poor
ministers sometimes lost their heads, and by their
vacillation threatened to compromise and destroy the
brilliant hopes of the future.
Whilst declaring that the Convention of Villafranca
must be respected, Napoleon allowed it to be understood
that if Savoy, the cession of which, together with Nice,
had been arranged at Plombieres (but not carried out at
the close of the war because he had not fulfilled the con-
ditions of the contract), was handed over to him, no
objection would be raised to the annexation of Emilia
and the Romagna. He absolutely objected to the annex-
ation of Tuscany, of which he proposed to make a king-
dom of Etruria under some prince who had nothing to
do with Austria. The popular report was that the em-
172 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
peror wished to reserve the throne for his cousin Jerome,
husband of our Princess Clotilde; but the real reason was
his conviction that the annexation of Tuscany would
hasten the formation of a united Italy, distasteful to all
the great powers, with the exception of England. He
also knew that they considered him in a great measure
responsible for the Italian movement, and he was unable
and unwilling to compromise himself further for us.
In the Liberal party, especially among the lately an-
nexed Lombard subjects, the unpopularity of the ministers
increased daily; while the king, by nature prompt and
resolute, was in perpetual disaccord with one or the other.
He said nothing, but in his heart of hearts regretted Cavour.
Taking advantage of one of the frequent disagreements
with La Marmora, which generally ended by his tendering
his resignation—hitherto refused—the king took him at his
word, dissolved the ministry and sent for Cavour. This
was towards the middle of January 1860, when Victor
Emanuel was ill in bed. I left the king’s room when
Camillo entered, and waited in the study, as His Majesty had
orders to give me. Half an hour afterwards Cavour came
out of the room with a smiling face and rubbing his hands,
a sure sign that he was pleased. ‘Well,’ he said, looking
straight at me over his spectacles, ‘the reconciliation is
complete.’ ‘Really?’ I answered. ‘Don’t pretend to be
a simpleton,’ replied he; ‘you knew it. And now,’ he
added in rather a sarcastic tone, ‘many things will be
accomplished.’ Of that I had no doubt; but I never
imagined, and I do not think Cavour himself thought, that
before the end of the year we should be masters of the
whole boot, with the exception of Venice and Rome. The
alliance with Garibaldi, which brought about the union
of the south with the north, only occurred some months
later. At that moment he was in bad odour with the
government. It is true they had put him in command of
CAVOUR RETURNS TO POWER 173
the Tuscan contingent, but Fanti, commander-in-chief of
the army of the central provinces, was ordered to keep
watch on him, and had found means to remove him. The
first act of Cavour, on his return to power, was to name
Farini Minister of the Interior, and Fanti Minister of War.
The latter had shown great ability in organising the army
of the central provinces, raised by him in a few months to
forty-five thousand well-disciplined men. They had now
to be incorporated and amalgamated with the Sardinian
army and the Lombard troops, and he did the work well.
Meanwhile, Cavour dissolved the Chambers, fixed the
elections for the end of March, and the opening of the new
Parliament for the beginning of April. His chief object
was to repristinate the good relations existing before
Villafranca between Victor Emanuel and Napoleon.
Cavour understood what services the emperor might yet
render Italy, and wished to secure him, not only as an
ally, but, if I may use the word, an accomplice, having a
direct and positive interest in the realisation of Italian
aspirations. Aware of Napoleon’s desire to possess Savoy
and Nice, he therefore immediately reopened the question
of their cession. Fond of Italy, and admiring and trusting
Cavour, whom he regarded as the good genius of his
mother-country, Napoleon III. promised his assistance.
Meanwhile, Cavour and Fanti worked together to change
the whole organisation of the army and facilitate its
mobilisation. They divided it into five great corps ad’ armée,
each forming a small army, with its head of the staff,
artillery, heavy and light cavalry, Bersaglieri, commissariat,
ambulances, etc., etc., complete in number, easy to call
together and put on a war footing in a few days. For
more than two months no one was aware of what was
going on; I only knew it when the king offered me the
command of the Ist or the 3d corps, which I refused, as
I wished to retain my post at his side. De Sonnaz was
174 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF-A VETERAN
named to the Ist, La Marmora to the 2d (the Lombard),
extending from the Ticino to the Mincio, and from the
Po to the lake of Garda. The 3d, under Durando, was
destined to defend the line of the Po from Ferrara to
Casalmaggiore. |
All this occurred in March, and Cavour had meanwhile
induced the emperor (by the promise of Nice and Savoy).
to agree to the annexations, including that of Tuscany.
The king wished to pay a visit to the Empress of Russia,
widow of Nicholas I., who was about to leave Nice, where
she had passed the winter. But his presence there at such
a moment was considered inopportune, and he decided to
send me to compliment the Czarina in his name, and
explain why he had not come in person. Victor Emanuel
had said nothing more to me about the commands of the
five army corps, but a few days after I reached Nice, my
brother Frederick, then aide-de-camp to the king, wrote, by
his orders, to advise me not to persist in my refusal. The
commanders of three divisions had already been appointed ;
the ministers had asked for one for Cialdini, and the king
had reserved the last (the Tuscan) for me. An immediate
answer was necessary, as the Parliament opened early in
April, and there was every prospect of another campaign.
I should have liked to have spoken to His Majesty, and to
have consulted my family, but it was impossible for me to
leave Nice, as the Czarina had asked me to dinner on pur-
pose to meet one of her sons, who was to arrive next day.
Russia was one of the great powers who disapproved of the
formation of a northern Italian kingdom, and I could not
let slip an opportunity of conversing familiarly with the
Grand Duke, and attempting to persuade him that Victor
Emanuel was not influenced by personal ambition, and
that his ministers (Cavour and Rattazzi) were not revolu-
tionary Jacobins, making use of the democracy for their
own ends. So I sent my servant back to Turin with letters
GARIBALDI UPBRAIDS CAVOUR 175
for His Majesty, for my wife, and my brother, frankly
stating my own wishes, but telling the two latter to decide
as they thought best for my interests, and, above all, to
conform to the wishes of the king. WhenI returned home
everything had been settled; I was gazetted commander
of the 5th corps darmée (the Tuscan), resident for the
present at Turin. Victor Emanuel meanwhile told me
that I was to retain the position and the functions of his
first aide-de-camp.
The king, in his speech at the opening of Parliament ©
on the 2nd April, announced the treaty for the cession of
Nice and Savoy. In the stormy debates which followed,
Cavour made two or three admirable speeches, and bore
down all opposition. The cession of the two provinces
was voted, and the annexation of Tuscany, Emilia and the
Romagna to the kingdom of Victor Emanuel, who lost two
or three millions of subjects and gained seven or eight.
Garibaldi, deputy for Nice, made his first appearance in
the House, and furiously upbraided Cavour, who certainly
did not merit such treatment. It was reported that
Garibaldi never forgot or forgave the cession of his birth-
place, and that his bitter words always rankled in the
mind of Cavour.
CHAPTER XVI
1860
The King visits New Provinces—Sends me to Compliment the ex-Duchess
of Lucca at Viareggio—Embarkation of the ‘ Thousand’ for Sicily—Our
March into Umbria—Cardinal Antonelli and Cavour—Siege and Capitu-
lation of Perugia—Execution of Priest—Siege of Ancona—Arrival of
Victor Emanuel at Ancona.
AFTER the vote in the Chambers the king, who had already
received all the deputations bringing the results of the
various plébiscites, went to visit the new provinces. His
entry into Florence on horseback, surrounded by a brilliant
staff, was a triumphal progress, and in all the cities of Tus-
cany, in Parma, in Piacenza, in the Romagna, in Bologna,
etc., the enthusiasm was extraordinary. Either at Prato
or Pistoia, I forget which, lunch had been prepared, to
which I felt disposed to do full justice, when the king
called me aside and ordered me to take post-horses and
go to Viareggio to compliment his cousin, Maria Theresa,
ex-Duchess of Lucca.
Maria Theresa of Savoy, one of the four daughters of
Victor Emanuel I. and Maria Theresa of Este, married
Charles of Bourbon, a wretched madman, who made her life
miserable. He abdicated in favour of his son, who was as
bad, or worse, than his father, and died by the hand of an
assassin. His son Robert succeeded him under the tute-
lage of his mother, the Duchess of Berry. The ex-duke
176
EX-DUCHESS OF LUCCA AT VIAREGGIO 177
went to Paris, where he led -a dissolute life, and Maria
Theresa had retired to a villa near Viareggio, entirely
buried in the pine woods. With some difficulty I per-
suaded the porter to let my carriage drive up to the door,
and the duchess was summoned from the chapel, where she
passed the day praying for the repose of the soul of her
son. She had no ladies or gentlemen-in-waiting ; her sole
companion was her chaplain and confessor ; her only visitor
a Florentine nobleman, who administered her property.
When I mentioned Victor Emanuel she had difficulty in
understanding who I meant; and when I said I had come
from Florence, she asked after. the grand duke. I told
her he had been at Vienna for more than a year, and as
she made no sign for me to leave, I explained as well as
I could that, by a plebiscite, Tuscany had united herself to
Piedmont, where her own family, the House of Savoy, still
continued to reign. I saw that the word plébiscite was
utterly unknown to her, and that she did not understand
what I was talking about. She looked at me with astonish-
ment, and then half closed her eyes, and clasped her hands
as though in prayer. At last she rose and told me to
thank her cousin, but she did not give me her hand to kiss.
The demonstrations of joy which greeted Victor
Emanuel in his new dominions found an echo in the
south of Italy, and aroused the patriotic aspirations which
had been crushed in Naples and Sicily by the implacable
despotism of Ferdinand II. On his death, in the spring
of 1859, the Liberal party took fresh heart, as the mother
of his eldest son and heir Francis was Maria Christina of
Savoy, another of the four daughters of Victor Emanuel I.
On the strength of this, Count Cavour attempted to make
a treaty of alliance between Piedmont and the young
sovereign. He sent Count Ruggero di Salmour as am-
bassador extraordinary to explain to Francis II. that he
might free Italy from serious complications, and probably
M
178 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
save his own throne, by allying himself with us. But
Franceschiello, as he was called in Naples, refused to
listen, and swore he would adhere to his father’s form of
government and policy. A few months later, when the
revolution broke out, he sent one ambassador after another
—first to Cavour and then to Victor Emanuel—to express
his willingness to enter into a treaty of alliance, and even
to grant a Constitution. But it was too late. King and
minister were morally bound to Garibaldi. —
At Palermo a large body of Bourbon troops had
quashed the revolution, the leaders of which were, oddly
enough, saved and harboured by the monks of a large
convent. But the impulse was given, and the whole south
of Italy only wanted a vigorous leader to rise and declare
for union under Victor Emanuel. Garibaldi had promised
two of his friends—Nino Bixio, a Genoese, and Francesco
Crispi, a Sicilian, ardent partisans of the unity of Italy—
that when a favourable occasion came he would put him-
self at the head of an expedition to liberate the southern
provinces. But after the vote in April for the cession of
Nice and Savoy, Garibaldi drew back. The two patriots,
however, at last persuaded him to reconsider his decision ;
although the official aid of the government was refused,
he had reason to hope for their indirect assistance, and
determined to act. The immediate result was the em-
barkation at Quarto? of the ‘Thousand,’ on two boats
seized by Bixio. The incidents of that adventurous
expedition are well known. They necessitated our march
1 Crispi, a Mazzinian Republican, had, it was said, accepted the idea of
unity under Victor Emanuel, by the advice of Mazzini himself. Whilst keep-
ing to his own opinions, Mazzini’s passionate love and desire for unity induced
him to permit his followers to abandon the form of government he preferred,
rather than risk the formation of a united Italy.
2 The splendid villa of Quarto, whence the Garibaldians started, once
belonged to the Spinola family. Now it is the property of Signor Carrara, a
Garibaldian.
EMBARKATION OF THE ‘THOUSAND’ 179
across Umbria and the Marches, as triumphant, in its way,
as that of Garibaldi,
In the beginning of August the minister of war sent
all the troops stationed in Piedmont to the Camps of In-
struction on the Vauda of S. Maurice (Canavese), placing
them under my command during the manceuvres, which
were to take place from the Ist September to the 15th
October. I took a villa near by, intending to receive
all the superior officers, and the king announced his
intention of assisting at the first sham fights. All was
ready, when I received orders from the War Office to. con-
centrate my corps (the 5th) and start immediately for
the Umbrian frontier, and with the 4th corps defend, so
said the order, our frontiers menaced by the foreign
legions of the Pope. At the same time (31st August)
Fanti wrote me a private letter, containing these words:
‘Spread the report that we are concentrating our troops
to quell the revolution, and, if necessary, to march on
Naples.’
I cannot say this order surprised me. The rapid
spread of the revolution in the kingdom of Naples, where
the people greeted Garibaldi with enthusiasm, and the
garrisons laid down their arms and joined his army, had
been known for some days. Poor King Francis, betrayed
by his relations, by his ministers, and by those he esteemed
his most faithful servants, was about to leave Naples and
take refuge in Gaeta with the remnant of his army, about
fifty thousand men.
Seeing the kingdom of Naples a prey to a double
revolution, fanned by Mazzini on one hand and Garibaldi
on the other, Cavour decided on throwing off the mask
and openly assisting the latter. The time was propitious,
but it was a perilous and decisive step to take.
The king and Cavour took advantage of the presence
of Napoleon III. in his new province of Savoy to send
180 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
Farini and Cialdini, under pretext of complimenting him,
to represent the terrible condition of Umbria and the
Marches, exposed to the incessant depredations of the
mercenary Papal troops. They were to obtain a promise
from the emperor that the French garrison in Rome
should not be permitted to assist Lamoriciére, and also
to make sure that His Imperial Majesty would raise no
obstacle to the entry of our troops into Umbria, or to the
plébtscite of the people, who had asked to be annexed to
the kingdom of Victor Emanuel.
Napoleon, always favourable to the Italian cause, and
at that moment under the impression of the brilliant
reception accorded him in the provinces just ceded to
France, promised to recognise the action of our govern-
ment, provided the work was done quickly; it was
necessary that Europe should only know it as an accom-
plished fact. The injunctions verbally made to our
envoys were repeated in an autograph letter from the
emperor to Victor Emanuel, which I saw :—‘ Allez, allze,
et surtout faites vite. We went and we made quick work
of it. |
I had orders from Fanti, Minister of War, and com-
mander-in-chief of the expedition, to have my troops on
the frontier by the 1oth September. He gave me full
powers, and placed the railway at my command. Thanks
to this, but still more to the excellent organisation intro-
duced by Fanti himself, I was there before the date
named, The mobilisation of my corps only took three
days, and within a week thirty thousand men were on
the frontier. |
I must confess that I was hurt and angry when Fanti,
my junior, whose grades had been gained in foreign ser-
vice, was named commander-in-chief of the expedition.
I thought he might have joined the army, as minister of
war, and left me the honour of directing the expedition.
OUR MARCH INTO UMBRIA 181
But I soon recognised his superiority and his great
military intuition; and during the whole campaign I took
counsel with him on all essential matters.
The 2d and 3d corps, under La Marmora and Durando,
were entrusted with the defence of the kingdom, in case
the Austrians attempted to take advantage of our south-
ward march and attack us on the rear.
On the 3d September I left Turin with my staff, and
embarked at Genoa for Leghorn, where we arrived during
the night of the 4th. Next evening we were at Florence,
and on the 6th I left for Arezzo to reconnoitre the country
while waiting for my troops, who, on account of the
defective railway service, could only arrive on the 8th.
Next day my corps—about eleven thousand men, the rest
having been left to garrison Turin and Florence—was
concentrated on the frontier, near Arezzo, where Fanti
established his headquarters.
Cialdini, in command of the 4th army corps, had
received orders to concentrate his troops at Cattolica,
between Pesaro and Rimini. He had two strong divisions,
numbering about fourteen thousand men, and could also
summon Cadorna to his aid, whose division was destined
to reinforce whichever corps needed strengthening. Alto-
gether we had about thirty-two thousand to thirty-three
thousand men in five divisions. My numerical inferiority
to Cialdini was blamed by some, as the 5th corps was
likely to be the first to meet the enemy, and ought, people
said, to be the strongest. But it was just in these disposi-
tions that Fanti showed his intuition and military genius.
He so completely deceived Lamoriciere as to our real
intentions, that he abandoned his sole line of retreat in
Umbria and concentrated his troops around Ancona,
threatened by the 4th corps, leaving the road open for
our rapid advance. Fanti also estimated that eleven
thousand picked troops, such as I had, were more than
182 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF.A VETERAN
sufficient to engage any number of mercenaries, even
without the aid of Cadorna’s division.
The strategic plan for the 5th corps was to avoid the
narrow pass of Lake Thrasimene, march by Citta di
Castello and Fratto on Perugia, and seize the fortress
which commands the city. Once masters of Perugia, we
were to proceed to Foligno, the centre of communication
of the Papal States, and effect a junction with the 4th
corps. From Foligno we could operate on Spoleto or
Ancona, according to the movements of the enemy.
On the goth, Fanti sent a letter to Lamoriciére by
Lieutenant Farini; informing him that he had orders to
cross the frontier, if the manifestations in the cities of
Umbria and the Marches in favour of annexation to the
monarchy of Victor Emanuel were interfered with.
Three days before, Cavour had written to Cardinal
Antonelli, to announce that the people of the Marches
and of Umbria had appealed to the King of Sardinia to
defend them against the aggressions of the mercenary
troops, who, in the name of the Pontifical government,
threatened their lives and their honour. :
The reply given by Cardinal Antonelli may be im-
agined. The Pontifical troops were not withdrawn, but
were ordered to resist the invaders to the utmost. La-
moriciére looked on Fanti’s letter as a declaration of war,
and replied that he was ready to defend himself.
We crossed the frontier on the roth. On the 11th I
encamped near Monterchi, sending on the brigade of the
Sardinian Grenadiers to Citta di Castello, which they
entered at one o’clock, after a slight resistance at the
city gates and the governor’s palace by seventy-six
gendarmes, who were taken prisoners. The rest of the
troops entered the town next day amid the rejoicing of
the inhabitants, who distributed refreshments among them
1 Now President of the Senate.
SIEGE OF PERUGIA 183
from a café on the piazza, whose name had been changed
during the night to Café General Della Rocca. In a few
hours we organised a grand ball in the municipal palace
for the officers and gentry, and another on the piazza, in
which the soldiers had permission to join.
While part of the troops were dancing and amusing
themselves, the Sardinian Grenadiers, the Bersaglieri, the
artillery, and a squadron of cavalry advanced towards La
Fratta, while the engineers and pioneers threw a bridge
across the Tiber, near S. Maddalena. On the 13th the
headquarters were at Pierantonio, whence I sent on
General Maurice de Sonnaz with a column of the Sardinian
Grenadiers, a squadron of the Nice cavalry, Bersaglieri and
artillery to Bosco, in preparation for the morrow’s attack on
the fortress of Perugia. It was only defended by a few hun-
dred Papal troops, General Schmidt being out reconnoitring
with fifteen hundred men. Schmidt was the man who had
been charged to quell the rising in Perugia during our
campaign in June 1859, when the city first declared for
annexation to the Constitutional kingdom of Victor
Emanuel. He permitted his troops to commit every kind
of atrocity, and was execrated by the inhabitants. His
men were too tired to reach Perugia before us, but during
the assault he managed to enter the fortress unseen.
| De Sonnaz had my orders to attack the city from
above, and struck his camp early in the morning of the
14th. He advanced to reconnoitre and pick up what in-
formation he could from the inhabitants, as we possessed
no topographical maps of any sort. On reaching the walls
he decided to divide his troops into two divisions ; one was
to enter the city by the gate of S. Antonio, the other by
the gate of S. Margherita, and, protected from the fire of
the fortress by the cathedral, attack the front and the
exterior door of the citadel. Both city gates were closed
and barred, but the former had been left unguarded, so the
184 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
Perugians were able to open it and let in the first column.
Major Pallavacini, with his battalion of Bersaglieri, rushed
into the town, followed by three battalions of Grenadiers,
a squadron of cavalry and a battery of artillery. They
were received by a sharp musketry fire from the fortress.
Major-General Camerana lost a good many men while
crossing the piazza to take up a position on the opposite
side. Detachments of the enemy in the streets leading to
the fortress were put to flight by our soldiers, who were
fired upon from the windows of houses occupied by
Schmidt’s men. Aided by the inhabitants, we hunted
them out, and making barricades of furniture and mat-
tresses, which were offered without stint, at last became
masters of all the surroundings of the citadel.
In one street a shot from a window mortally wounded
the handsome drum-major of the Grenadiers. Eyewitnesses
swore that the shot came from the room of the parish priest,
and was fired by him. A court-martial was immediately
held, and sentence of death pronounced. The execution
was, however, deferred to the next day, it being contrary
to the rules of war to carry out a sentence during a siege.
While the first column entered the gate of S. Antonio
without difficulty, the second had to wait, under a heavy
fire from the walls, at the gate of S. Margherita until the
engineers and sappers came up to burst it open. They
then rushed in, made some sixty prisoners in the
barracks close by, and crossed the city in the direction
of the gate of S. Pietro. Part of the troops were stationed
in the public gardens opposite the citadel; the others
guarded the road to Foligno to prevent any attempt at
flight. I left Pierantonio in the morning for Bosco with
the rest of my troops, and, marching round the hill of
Perugia, debouched on the Foligno road at the bridge of
S. Giovanni. Towards mid-day De Sonnaz sent to inform
me that Schmidt, with fifteen hundred men, reported to be
CAPITULATION OF PERUGIA 185
well provided with artillery, had got into the fortress, and
to ask for reinforcements. Fanti joined us at that moment,
and approved of my resolve to start at once with the Lom-
bard Grenadiers, under General Brignone, to the aid of De
Sonnaz, and to send Colonel Ceresole with two squadrons
down into the plain to cut off a possible retreat of the
enemy towards Rome. Finding the gate of S. Pietro un-
defended, we entered, ranged the troops in front of the
church and convent of S. Pietro, and placed a battery of
eight guns in readiness to bombard the citadel. All was
quiet in the city, which made me think a parley was going
‘on. I sent the head of my staff to see, and he returned
with news that Schmidt, having found out that he had to
do with regular troops, and not, as he supposed, with volun-
teers, had asked for a suspension of arms with a view to
capitulate. De Sonnaz had agreed, and for two hours had
been discussing with two colonels sent by Schmidt, who re-
fused to accept the conditions drawn up previously by Fanti.
In order to accelerate matters I galloped up the steep
paved incline from S. Pietro to the cathedral piazza, and
joined De Sonnaz and the Colonels De Curten and Lazzarini,
sent by Schmidt, who did not venture to show himself in the
town. Finding them intractable, I drew out my watch and
said, ‘ It is now five ; if at five forty-five the citadel has not
surrendered, I open fire from S. Pietro.’ Then ordering De
Sonnaz to retreat, | went back to my position. There I
found Fanti, who had come with an aide-de-camp to know
what had happened. He approved of my ultimatum, being
anxious to come to a conclusion, as he had heard that
Lamoriciere was hastening towards Ancona, and wanted to
launch the 5th corps in pursuit. Cialdini, with the 4th
corps, was to intercept him, and Fanti hoped to crush the
mercenary troops between our two armies; Cadorna, with
his division, having meanwhile advanced towards Gubbio
to reinforce the 4th corps. Time passed without any sign
186 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
of surrender, and after looking at his watch several times
the commander-in-chief gave the order to fire, and our
eight guns did considerable damage to the fortress. Im-
mediately afterwards De Sonnaz sent in hot haste to beg
us to cease firing, as the citadel had capitulated.
Fanti, De Sonnaz, I and some of our staffs entered the
convent of S. Pietro, where the Colonels De Curten and
Lazzarini soon joined us, with full powers from Schmidt.
We asked the custodian to give us a room, which he
declined to do, adding, that in any case we could not have ink
or pens. ‘ Really!’ answered Fanti. ‘Go to your superiors,
and say that if a room is not opened at once, and pens, ink
and paper provided, I shall call in a battalion of soldiers,
who will know how to open doors and find what is neces-
sary. Ina few minutes a room on the ground floor was
opened for us, and paper, pens and ink were brought. The
conditions of surrender were signed by De Sonnaz and the
two Pontifical colonels in Schmidt’s name. Thus, on the
14th September 1860, Perugia was avenged for the mal-
treatment she received on the 20th June 1859 at the hands
of Schmidt. He was made prisoner, and we sent him out
of the town under a strong escort at night, as the people
threatened to tear him to pieces.
That same evening Fanti sent off part of the troops to
Foligno, leaving a garrison at Perugia, and despatched
General Brignone to take the fortress of Spoleto, defended
by eight hundred Irish mercenaries. As the fortress com-
mands the road to Rome, it was important for us to hold
it to prevent reinforcements reaching the enemy.
Just before leaving Perugia for Foligno with Fanti I
met the detachment of soldiers with the condemned priest.
A fine, tall man of about forty, he walked slowly but firmly,
and never raised his eyes from his breviary. Although a
gun, lately discharged, with the barrel still warm, was
found in his room, he persisted in declaring that he had
EXECUTION OF THE PRIEST AT PERUGIA 187
not fired the fatal shot, but declined to name the culprit.
I should have liked to pardon him, but Fanti, although not
more bloodthirsty than myself, thought an example was
necessary in order to prevent a recurrence of such treachery.
Some hours before, the Archbishop of Perugia (Cardinal
Pecci), now Pope Leo XIII., sent to say he wished to see
me, but as I had a shrewd suspicion what he wanted I
excused myself on the plea of important business. The
death of the priest was greeted with shouts of applause
from the crowd, who remembered the atrocities of 1859
and the oppression suffered since.
Our march in pursuit of Lamoriciére was not accom-
plished with the rapidity planned by Fanti. The excessive
steepness of the road between Foligno and Colfiorito
retarded the commissariat waggons and the artillery. The
troops had to bivouac for a night and wait for them, which
gave Lamoriciére the advantage of two marches over us.
Having taken the fortress of Pesaro on the 12th,
Cialdini made an admirably planned forced march on
Iesi and Osimo, positions which effectually barred the
advance of the enemy towards Ancona. On the 16th
he reached Castelfidardo and Le Crocette, where he met
the Papal troops on the 18th and completely beat them.
Nothing therefore remained for us (the 5th corps) but to
besiege Ancona. I remember we met the courier from
Rome to Tolentino, Macerata, etc., on the summit of the
Apennines, and, according to the right, or at any rate the
usage, of war, Fanti stopped the coach and seized the mails.
We returned most of the letters to the bag, only keeping
those which contained information which might be of use
to us. Among them was one to Lamoriciére from a rich
landowner at Macerata, offering to lodge and feed a portion
of his troops on his farms, and placing his house and all it
contained at his service. On arriving at Macerata, Fanti
sent for this gentleman and informed him that a certain
188 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
number of men would be quartered on his farms, and that
he and his staff intended to lodge in his house. Lamoriciére’s
friend declared his farms were few and ill-provided, and his
house small and quite unworthy to receive so great a
general and his suite. Fanti suavely replied that he and
his soldiers would be quite satisfied with what he could
provide, and then handed him the letter intended for the
Papal general. The poor man’s face was a study!
We had met fugitives from the Papal army at Tolentino,
where we halted on the way to Macerata, among them
several officers riding at full gallop. With some difficulty
we succeeded in stopping one, and heard of the battle at
Castelfidardo, which was probably still going on.
On the 20th I entered Macerata, where I heard more
details about the victory of Castelfidardo, and next day
met Fanti at Loreto. Soon afterwards Cialdini joined us,
and we started for Ancona to besiege the fortress. Cialdini
was to invest it on the left side, I on the right, and the fleet
had orders to assist our operations.
My right wing rested on the high rocks overlooking the
sea, my left extended down towards the Pia gate, where
Cialdini had his headquarters. Fanti established his at
the Favorita, near Castro, and I took up mine at the Villa
Bosdari, on the heights of Monte Acuto. Opposite me
were the two strong redoubts of Monte Pelago and Monte
Pulito, We threw up batteries, and on the fourth day
opened fire. On the 25th the enemy made a sortie to
interrupt our work, but the Bologna brigade, which was
at the outposts, drove them back under the lunette of fort
Pelago. Here our men had to wait for reinforcements in
order to surround the position. Soon afterwards the Bersa-
gliericame up, and the enemy were driven back at the point
ofthe bayonet. The flag of the Bologna brigade was planted
on the conquered positions of Monte Pelago and Monte
Pulito, which the enemy in vain attempted to wrest from us.
SIEGE OF ANCONA 189
A large number of Papal troops were in the Gardetto
fort, which my corps attacked on the 28th, supported by
the fire of the fleet, whose shells passed over our heads.
At the same time Cialdini made a feint attack in another
direction to draw off part of the enemy’s forces. The day
—a brilliant one for our navy and our army—ended with a
tremendous explosion ; a dense cloud of smoke, torn by
long tongues of flame, rose into the sky. A shell had
exploded in the powder magazine. Soon afterwards a
white flag ran up on the citadel where Lamoriciére was,
and firing ceased on both sides, only to recommence at
eight in the evening, as he demurred to our conditions, I
ordered Colonel Ferrero, with the 4th Lombard regiment,
to occupy the suburbs during the night with three
battalions and two guns, and destroy the Calamo gate,
which would admit me into the fortifications. He reached
the gate, but unfortunately one of his guns. burst, which
somewhat retarded operations. Next morning the capi-
tulation was signed, and the inhabitants tore down
the battered remains of the gate to let my men in. I
telegraphed to Fanti for permission to enter Ancona, and
at five in the afternoon marched in with my staff at the
head of the 4th Grenadier regiment, destined to garrison
the citadel. The same evening the 12th regiment of
Bersaglieri and the marines joined me, and on the 30th
the 4th corps entered the town with Generals Fanti and
Cialdini at their head.
The king arrived off Ancona in the Maria Adelaide
on the 3d October, and after reviewing the troops by the
seashore, rode to the government palace, where he spent
twenty-four hours in listening to our reports and to those
of the government commissioners. Then he despatched
Fanti and Cialdini to Turin to consult with Cavour, and
during their absence confided the command of the army
to me. I was also charged to prepare an itinerary for
190 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A~ VETERAN
the march of the two corps to Isernia on the crest of
the Apennines.
His Majesty took up his residence on the hill outside
the Pia gate, and as I was perpetually backwards and
forwards between my headquarters and his villa, I met
the Countess Mirafiore, whom I had not seen for years.
Though she had been living fourteen years with the king,
and must have been thirty, she looked wonderfully young
and had not lost her beauty. But she dressed very badly
in a theatrical style. I remember one morning the king
made me stay for lunch, as he had not finished signing
the orders for the day, and Rosina appeared in a volumin-
ous and immensely long sort of dressing-gown, with a
diadem of brilliants on her head, strings of pearls, reach-
ing to her waist, round her neck, and her arms and fingers
covered with jewels. I was no favourite of hers, and she
showed it; for though I knew her as a girl I had never
been near her since she became the king’s mistress. But
Rosina was not a bad or intriguing woman, never tried to
injure me, and I do not believe she ever did an ill-natured
thing to anyone.
On the return of Fanti and Cialdini the king expressed
his sorrow at not being able to keep me as his chief of
the staff. Having taken over the supreme command of
the army, he felt bound to give Fanti the position I had
filled in 1848 and 1859. Policy, or rather Cavour, who,
since Villafranca, had borne me a grudge, thus ordered it.
But with his usual kindness Victor Emanuel arranged that
my corps should march with him. Only long afterwards
I learnt that, seeing I disliked Cavour’s idea of leaving
me in command of the troops in Umbria and the Marches,
instead of taking an active part in the Neapolitan cam-
paign, the king had insisted on my retaining the command
of the 5th corps, which was under his direct orders.
LapaAr TER AVIT
Plébiscite at Sulmona—Immorality of the Neapolitans—Garibaldi at Capua—
His Noble Conduct—Siege and Capitulation of Capua—Garibaldi
Dictator of Naples—Victor Emanuel enters Naples—Miracle of San
Gennaro—Mazzini and the two Dumas’.
FROM Terni I rode with a small escort across the Nea-
politan frontier to Citta Ducale, and thence to Antrodoco.
On the 20th October I was at Aquila, where everything
was quiet. Popoli, which I reached late in the evening,
was crowded with the military train of my corps and
with commissariat waggons. Groups of volunteers on
their way to join Garibaldi were shouting, singing and
drinking success to Italy in every street. At daylight
I started for Sulmona, and wishing to see the voting
for the plébisczte, entered the town on foot. The crowd
was extraordinary, and nearly every man had a bit of
paper with a big Sz (Yes) stuck in his hatband; very
few bore a Vo. I was watching the scene, when screams
and angry shouts of ‘Death to the Bourbons!’ ‘Long
live Victor Emanuel!’ ‘Hurrah for Italy!’ arose, and
I saw an officer of our carabineers attempting to protect
a Neapolitan general from the fury of the people. Seeing
the officer would not be able to save his prisoner, I made
a rush with my two aides-de-camp through the crowd.
‘Save me! save me!’ cried the poor wretch; ‘these madmen
want to kill me.’ Cigala and Gianotti placed themselves
on either side of the general, while I harangued the crowd,
191
192 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
telling them that no barbarous action should be committed
in the name of Victor Emanuel and of Italy, that the laws
of civilised nations commanded prisoners to be respected,
and that no one would be allowed to hurt a man who
was in our hands. I had hardly finished speaking, when a
ruffianly-looking fellow came up to me and said, ‘Who are
you, to mix yourself up in our concerns?’ ‘I am General
Della Rocca, commanding one of the corps d@armée, who
have come to liberate you, I answered. The names of
Fanti, Cialdini, and Della Rocca,.were probably known
through the newspapers, for as soon as I pronounced my
name the crowd began to cheer, ‘ Long live Della Rocca!’
‘Long live Fanti!’ ‘Long live Cialdini!’ My aide-de-
camp Cigala conducted the Bourbon general, a certain
Scotti Douglas of Parma, whom Cialdini had taken
prisoner on the Apennines, half fainting to the barracks
of the carabineers, whence he was sent to Piedmont, and,
I believe, soon set at liberty.
From Sulmona I went to join the king at Castel di
Sangro, and heard His Majesty had been received every-
where with enthusiasm. At Isernia, where we arrived
on the 22d, a council of war was held. It was decided
to advance on Naples, which had been abandoned by
King Francis and immediately occupied by Garibaldi
in conjunction with our troops. Naples was to be our
new base, and our line of operations the Garigliano. I
was to take Capua, which intercepted our advance on
Naples, while the king, with the 4th corps and the chief
part of mine, marched towards the Garigliano in search
of the Bourbon army. Owing to inexact’ information
given by prisoners as to the strength of the garrison at
Capua, and counting on the aid of the Garibaldians, who
had been for nearly a month investing the place, I only
took a few battalions. At Teano I separated from our
main body, turning off on the road to Alife. Soon after-
IMMORALITY OF THE NEAPOLITANS 193
wards the king met the Bourbon troops, and defeated
them after three hours’ fighting.
Between Venafro and Alife I met General Garibaldi
and his aide-de-camp in search of the king. I put him
in the right direction, and heard afterwards that he found
Victor Emanuel at Quadriglia, and for the first time
saluted him enthusiastically as Kzng of Italy.
At Alife the bishop, an excellent, high-minded man,
came to see me. He belonged to the Liberal section of
the Neapolitan clergy, who hoped that a new govern-
ment might sweep away the corruption and abuses which
had infested the country for centuries. We talked for
more than an hour, and I remember my astonishment
when, among other things, he said, ‘You will easily
beat the Neapolitan army, the soldiers are cowards, they
have no backbone; but you will find it difficult to over-
come the immorality of the Neapolitans, particularly of
a great part of the clergy. I have lived in the south for
more than twenty years, and sad experience has taught
me how little one can do for their amelioration, even
by incessant work. You will not really conquer the
Neapolitans until you succeed in teaching them the holy
truth of moral order, and, I warn you, that will take
time and labour.’ I heard afterwards that the good
bishop had talked in the same sense to the king and
to Farini, insisting on the necessity of reforming the
universal immorality of all classes of the population.
1 He wrote to me :—
* TEANO, 27th Oct. 1860.
‘MON CHER GENERAL,—Hier soir j’ai trouvé l’ennemi en force 4 moitié
route, entre Teano et Sessa, sur les hauteurs. Le combat dura trois heures,
Vennemi fut repoussé 4 Sessa, je crois en retraite vers le Garigliano. I] avait
seize bataillons de chasseurs et, je crois, grande partie on toute l’armée. Les
prisonniers m’assurent n’y avoir en Capoue qu’un regiment et un bataillon.
Portez vous aussit6t sur cette ville . . . et tachez de la faire rendre au plus
tdt, ceci est trés important pour notre politique trés tendue.
‘Tenez moi au courant de tout. Je vous embrasse.—Votre trés affectionné,
*VicTOR EMANUEL.’
N
194 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
On the 28th October I arrived at Santa Maria (di
Capua). Immediately after the victory of Volturno, in the
beginning of the month, Garibaldi, with about thirty thou-
sand men, called the Southern Army (Eserczto Meridionale),
had surrounded Capua, but, lacking artillery, was able to
do nothing. They were stationed at Santa Maria, at
Caserta, at Avellino, and on the road called Formicola, on
the right bank of the Volturno. After going over the
lines fronting the fortifications of the town, I went to
Monte Sant’ Angelo, where Garibaldi had established
himself. He told me the king had informed him of the
_ orders given to me, and added, ‘My opinion is that in
war unity of command is indispensable.’ I had expected
some such objection, and it never entered my head to
claim the supreme command of his troops; still, it was
impossible for me, in spite of my respect and admiration,
to serve under him. I therefore answered that while
surveying the lines of attack I had seen the positions of
his troops on the heights to the right of the fortress and
on part of the narrow plain on the slopes, and had come
to the conclusion that, if I occupied the plain to the left, we
could work together with good results and without inter-
fering with each other. He listened in silence, and after
some minutes said, ‘If not inconvenient to you, we can
meet again to-day between four and five, and I will give
you my answer.’ A little before five I was at his quarters,
and found the Dictator surrounded by all his generals—
Cosenz, Medici, Sirtori, etc. Garibaldi introduced us,
saying I had been charged by the king to besiege Capua
and take the fortress without loss of time; and that, being
averse to any division of command, he placed the whole
of his army under my control for this undertaking. But,
fearing lest his volunteers might raise difficulties if this
were known, he wished them to believe that he was still
in their midst. ‘I therefore beg,’ he continued, ‘General
NOBLE CONDUCT OF GARIBALDI 195
Della Rocca and all of you to keep this secret. General
Sirtori, in whom I have absolute confidence, will transmit
the orders of General Della Rocca to my men, as though
they came from me. I am called to Naples on urgent
business relating to the Dictatorship, but shall be ready
to return at once should my presence be necessary.’ He
then shook my hand and wished me good luck. Every-
thing being thus satisfactorily arranged, I sent my head
of the staff to General De Corné, commanding in Capua,
with a letter informing him that I had orders to take the
fortress, and enough troops to do it with. Resistance being
useless, I invited him to surrender in order to save the
town and its inhabitants the horrors of a siege. Mean-
while, with Meneabrea and Colonel Bottacco of the
artillery, I chose the places for establishing the batteries.
These were begun the same night, General De Corne
having refused to surrender.
Having only batteries of sixteen, I sent to Naples for
heavier guns. Twenty-four hours later Valfré, commander-
in-chief of the artillery, arrived himself with twenty heavy
pieces, and in less than three days they were in position.
Just as we were firing the first shots to get the range, the
king, impatient for an answer to a letter he had written
from Sessa,! rode up, accompanied by only one aide-de-
1 ‘Sgssa, le 31 Octobre, 1860.
‘MON CHER MACcIGNO,*—Donnez-moi des nouvelles exactes de Capua,
et dites moi quand vous croyez que cela sera fait ; plus ce cera vite, mieux
casera. En attendant, avant hier on m’a fait une bétise. Je donnais l’ordre
a... de reconnaitre le Garigliano, lui, croyant bien faire, s’avanca vers le
pont avec trois régiments de cavalerie, quatre bataillons de Bersaglieri et deux
batteries sans me le dire. Aussitdt le feu s’engagea avec deux bataillons de
chasseurs qui étaient de ce cédté-ci du pont, et la cavalerie, portée trés en
avant, fut fortement mitraillée. En entendant le feu, je me portais sur place
avec Sonnaz, mais c’etait trop tard, c’etait le bon del’action. Les Napolitains
de l’autre cété du fleuve faisaient un feu d’enfer, je donnais l’ordre de retirer
les troupes, chose désagréable, mais nécessaire : on avait déja tué et blessé
* Granite—a play upon General Della Rocca’s (vock) name.
196 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
camp, running some risk of being taken a prisoner. With —
my habitual frankness I told His Majesty that his presence
at that moment was very inconvenient, and after asking
me how long I thought the siege would last, and receiving
my assurance that, although the garrison consisted of
several thousand men instead of a few hundred, as we had
been informed, in three days Capua would be ours, he
shook hands and rode off. Heavy firing began at 4 p.m.
on the rst November, to which the fortress replied. To-
wards evening I was forced to slacken fire for want of
ammunition, and only sent two or three bombs an hour
during the night. Some of these burst in the town, and,
among other buildings, set fire to the palace of the bishop,
who immediately went to the commandant and advised
him to surrender. Before six in the morning of the 2d
November two superior officers came to my headquarters ;
35 hommes du septiéme bataillon, 5 officiers, et pris du méme bataillon 30
prisonniers qui bétement s’étaient poussés de l’autre cété du pont, croyant de
devoir le prendre et qui furent entourés. Une 20.n¢ de chevaux de Piémont
Royal y resterent. Dans la retraite les chasseurs Napolitains repasserent le
pont et nous suivirent un peu et puis s’arréterent. Maintenant leurs avant
postes sont plus prés de nous, nous n’avons pas encore pu faire de pont.
Celui de Gaiazzo n’est pas arrivé, nous avions combiné avec la marine d’en
faire un 4 l’embouchure du Garigliano, mais l’Amiral francais vient se mettre
en bataille en face de nos navires, et déclare les couler 4 fond si on tire un
coup de canon, et si on met le pont. Je suis sfir que c’est de son crii, car
l’empereur n’a pas de ces ideés ; aussi je viens d’ecrire une lettre plus qu’
enérgique que Persano lui enverra. Entr’ autres choses l’Amiral dit que le
Garigliano fait partie de la place de Gaéte, et que lui se trouverait avec la
flotte entre deux feux, de la place et les nétres, lorsqu’il ya 14 kilométres
entre la place et nous. On dit que c’est un ami de Lamoriciere. C.... est
celui qui a eu le plus de tort dans Il’affaire de l’autre jour, car il a fait
mitrailler la cavalerie, et a ordonné aux Bersaglieri de passer le pont ot
il n’y avait qu’une planche oui et une non. J’ai donné perruque a tout le
monde.
‘L’ennemi est en force de 45,000 hommes de l’autre cété et quantité
d’artillerie.
‘Demain nous verrons si on peut faire mieux et passer en faisant mettre un
pont 6 milles plus haut.
‘Je vous embrasse.—Votre trés affectionné, VICTOR EMANUEL.’
SIEGE OF CAPUA 197
one, a General Liguori, asked me for a free pass for Gaeta
in order to consult with King Francis. I explained the
impossibility of granting such an extraordinary request,
showed him the very easy conditions of surrender I had
already drawn up, and advised him to return to his
commanding officer and induce him to accept them.
Firing had been stopped on their arrival, and I gave the
general till nine o’clock to bring me an affirmative answer.
As the clock struck nine I sent my aide-de-camp to order
the batteries to open fire, and directly afterwards Liguori
arrived in hot haste and accepted my conditions. The
garrison, eleven thousand five hundred strong, were fine
men and well dressed. They could not conceal their
satisfaction at the cessation of hostilities and danger, and
were sent to Naples with their families, about five thousand
old men, women and children. The Bourbons favoured
matrimony in their army, and gave rations to the soldiers’
families.
Garibaldi said, when he left on the evening of the
28th October, ‘I am going to Caserta, but to-morrow shall
be at Naples, where I have much to do.’ On the 30th
I heard he was still at Caserta, and ill; so, while the
engineers were working at the batteries, I rode over to see
him. With his usual simplicity in private life, he had
declined to inhabit the palace at Caserta, and I found him
in a little room above the guardhouse at the entrance.
On dismounting, I observed several barrels of powder, and
when I entered the room of the Dictator noticed his bed
was exactly over the spot where the powder had been
placed. I begged him to move immediately; and, smiling,
he promised to do so. Propped up with pillows, he was
wrapped in a military cloak, a little cap on his head, and a
silk handkerchief knotted round his neck. As I entered,
he held out his hand, and seemed quite touched when I told
him I had only come to ask how he was. He was still
198 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
more pleased when I told him how well I got on with
his generals, Cosenz and Sirtori, notable personages and —
most excellent men, and how I regretted the enforced
absence of Bixio, who had been sent to hospital in Naples
owing to a fall from his horse. Mine were no idle com-
pliments; I meant what I said, and I saw Garibaldi was
pleased that I appreciated his friends.
As soon as the capitulation was signed I sent off
my aide-de-camp, Cigala, to Garigliano with a note to
the king. When he had read it, he exclaimed, ‘ Capua
is ours! Hurrah for La Rocca!’ ‘Hurrah! Hurrah!
Long live La Rocca!’ was repeated by all his staff.
The king asked for a pencil, and sent me a note
ordering all the guns taken at Capua to be sent to him,
and bidding me go to Naples and take over the com-
mand there.
I confess that I was delighted, but not astonished, at the
description Cigala gave me of the reception of my news,
for I knew that in the small military Court circle of Victor
Emanuel I was liked and esteemed. But lately, in the
Memoirs (Ricord?) of General Genova Revel, I see it is
broadly hinted that I opposed Fanti about the disbanding
of the Garibaldians, and suggested to the king to be over-
indulgent towards the Southern Army to the detriment of
the regular army. Fanti, as minister of war, foresaw the
disorders and annoyances which the volunteers might cause
when the war was over, and very properly advised the
king to disband them at once. Victor Emanuel, knowing
that it would grieve Garibaldi, whose great services and
perfect loyalty and generosity he fully recognised, was
averse to such prompt action. I well remember his saying
to me, ‘ They are in too great a hurry; they make me cut a
sorry figure. I cannot show less generosity than Garibaldi.’ ©
These were entirely personal impressions of the king’s, and
suggested by noone. But having a strong admiration for
*
GARIBALDI DICTATOR OF NAPLES 199
Garibaldi, who had behaved so well and nobly to me at
Capua, I certainly could not combat them.
Before leaving Capua I went over the citadel, and in
the prison found and set at liberty Arrivabene, the cor-
respondent of the Morning Post. He had been taken by
the Bourbons during the battle of Volturno and imprisoned
as a spy. On the 4th November I left for Naples, with
rather a perturbed mind. It was all very well for the king
to tell me to go there and take the command. At Naples
there was a Dictator, Garibaldi; a pro-Dictator, George
Pallavicino ; General Tiirr, and several other commanders
of large bodies of troops, all men of note. For me to
arrive, perhaps without having been officially announced,
and say, ‘Here I am, now you can all go, was no easy
task. I could only do as I had done before—trust in the
star of Victor Emanuel. Garibaldi was at dinner with
twenty-five guests, and I sent in to beg him not to leave
them, as I would wait to give him a message from the
king. In a few minutes the Dictator appeared, and,
taking me by the hand, presented me to those who had
followed him into the drawing-room—‘ Gentlemen, I pre-
sent General Della Rocca, who only took three days to
besiege and conquer Capua.’ After a few complimentary
words, I drew Garibaldi aside, and said, ‘To-night my
troops arrive from Capua with eleven thousand five hun-
dred men of the Bourbon garrison; barracks and forts
must be ready for them.’ ‘I understand, of course,’ he
answered, ‘room must be found; tell me where you live.’
‘Close to you, in the royal palace; but my headquarters
will be in the palace of the Prince of Capua; and now I
am going to dine at the Calata del Gigante.’ ‘ Very well,
in half an hour General Tiirr, who was in command of the
city during my absence, will be with you. He will tell
you where the troops can be lodged, and will place himself
at your disposal, in case you wish him to superintend their
200 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
billeting.’ General Tiirr joined me soon afterwards, and
I asked him to dine with me. We arranged everything;
and I accepted the command of the city handed over to
me by the orders of the Dictator.
Thus all was settled without the slightest difficulty,
and with the simple cordiality of brothers-at-arms. I did
not even produce Fanti’s order, countersigned by Victor
Emanuel, which I had with me.
On the 7th November the king entered Naples. He
arrived an hour before the appointed time; but part of the
troops were drawn up in the streets he was to drive
through, and, luckily, I got to the station in time to accom-
pany him. It was raining hard, and the royal carriages
were not to be seen, so the king entered a large tent,
where he received the government officials and the officers
of the municipality. When at last the royal carriage drove
up, Victor Emanuel invited Garibaldi to sit by his side.
The Dictator, dressed in his usual red shirt, grey cloak
and small cap, was wet through. Opposite them sat
Pallavicino, pro-Dictator of Naples, and Mordini, pro-Dic-
tator of Sicily. I rode on the right hand of the king, with
my drawn sword.
All the clergy, with the exception of the archbishop,
who was at Gaeta, received Victor Emanuel with great
pomp at the door of the cathedral. After a solemn Je
Deum had been sung, the king and his suite went into the
chapel of San Gennaro, where, after the miracle had taken
place, the holy relic was given him to kiss. A few days
before the question was discussed, Victor Emanuel asked
me what I should do in his place. ‘I should inaugurate
the new era of things by showing respect to religion and
the church, but I should abolish superstition. He was
very much of my opinion; but Farini and several other
members of the government said that, the miracle having
taken place when Garibaldi visited the chapel, there would
MIRACLE OF SAN GENNARO 201
be great risk of setting the clergy and the common people
against the king if he declined to go through the cere-
mony. So he determined to bow to their opinion, and to
kneel before the miraculous phial. The suite of the king
not having reached the cathedral as soon as ourselves, I
dismounted to accompany His Majesty, but his aides-de-
camp appearing just as he was entering the chapel of San
Gennaro, I was enabled to retire and remount my horse
outside. In spite of the heavy rain, there was tremendous
enthusiasm when the king drove to the royal palace.
After the state dinner that evening, Victor Emanuel
took Garibaldi into his study, and they remained talking
for a long time. His Majesty told me that the Dictator,
speaking about the great difficulties of governing the Two
Sicilies, had suggested and offered to remain as viceroy,
if not as dictator, for some time longer, in order to use his
popularity for the good of Italy. He sincerely thought
that his influence, especially in Sicily, was so great that
he would have more chance of success than the govern-
ment of the king. Victor Emanuel listened without giving
any opinion, and said he would give an answer after con-
sulting Farini and the members of the government who
were at Naples. Fanti and Farini naturally opposed any
such arrangement, and they were right. Garibaldi was
sincere and honest, but he suffered himself to be sur-
rounded and led by persons whose only desire was to
detach the south from the north and create a Republic.
among them was Mazzini, who, in the neighbourhood of
Caserta, was trying, through his partizans and emissaries,
to foment disorder and insubordination, particularly among
the young officers of both armies.
After the plébescite, Mazzini did not go into voluntary
exile, as modern writers affirm. He remained at Naples,
and with the Garibaldians who had been, or were to be,
disbanded ; the brigands, and the two Alexandre Dumas’
202 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
(father and son) gave me a world of trouble and annoy-
ance. The elder Dumas had taken possession of a villa
which, he pretended, the Dictator had given to him. He
lived there with an actress of I forget what theatre, and his
son and Mazzini often stayed with him. A clever police
agent, charged to watch the agitator, and who knew how
dangerous he was, proposed to get rid of him in a way which
would appear perfectly natural, and have saved the govern-
ment many an anxious moment. It would have been a
criminal act, and I refused to sanction it. I contented myself
with having him closely watched and traversing his designs,
and, after a time, he momentarily disappeared from the scene.
The king only refused the offers of Garibaldi after the
official presentation of the p/ébzsczte on the 8th November.
On the same day the rank of a general in the army, the
Collar of the Annunziata, and a considerable pension was
offered to Garibaldi; but he refused everything. Con-
sidering himself still as Dictator, he made a large number
of promotions and appointments, and demanded the Collar
of the Annunziata for Pallavicino and for Mordini. The
king had already determined to give it to the former, not
so much for his services under Garibaldi as for his splendid
patriotism and the sufferings undergone at Spielberg for
the Italian cause, for which he had spent the greater part
of his large fortune.
Late in the afternoon the king informed Garibaldi his
councillors disapproved of his offers, and that, to his regret,
he must refuse them. Neither anger nor disappointment
was shown by Garibaldi, who, the same evening, published
a proclamation to the Italian people, calling them to rise
in the following spring and complete the unity of Italy by
liberating Rome and Venice. He then embarked for
Caprera with a few of his immediate adherents.
Next day, 9th November, Farini was appointed
Viceroy of the Two Sicilies by the king.
CrArrveR XVII
1861
Victor Emanuel impatient for the Fall of Gaeta—He, induces me to
accept the Military Command of the Two Sicilies—Prince Eugene
of Carignano Viceroy of Kingdom of Naples—Brigandage—Bribery
—Death of Cavour.
I MUST confess that my impressions of the inhabitants of
Naples during the first weeks I passed there were most
unfavourable. Later, when I made friends with many
excellent men, born and educated in the southern provinces,
among my colleagues in the Senate and in the army, they
were modified. Among these was Poerio, the type of
everything that was great and noble.
The king and the government were impatient for Gaeta
to fall; they wished the capitulation to take place before
His Majesty left for Turin. Ancona and Capua had
accustomed Victor Emanuel to quick and successful opera-
tions, and he did not take the far greater obstacles, chiefly
owing to the presence of King Francis and the royal
family at Gaeta, into account. Matters were also com-
plicated by the uncertain and hesitating conduct of
Napoleon III., who maintained a French fleet in the waters
of Gaeta, which prevented any action being taken by our
ships. One morning the king said he should send me to
hasten the siege ; but I declared it would be impossible to
supplant Cialdini, and declined any such mission. A’ few
days later he again broached the subject, proposing to
203
204 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF-A VETERAN
charge Cialdini with the amalgamation of the three armies,
Sardinian, Neapolitan and Garibaldian—and give him the
supreme command in southern Italy. ‘I know and I like
Cialdini!’ I exclaimed, ‘and I am sure he would be hurt
and would accept nothing until he has taken Gaeta.’ The
matter then dropped for the moment.
Meanwhile, it became imperative to reorganise the
army. Among the many decrees brought from Turin by
Fanti for the king to sign was one naming me president
of the commission to reform and weed the Garibaldian
army: a perfect hornets’ nest to be put into! However,
the commission only met once in Naples, when I read the
royal decree of 11th November 1860, granting six months’
pay to the officers and soldiers of the Southern Army. A
discussion arose as to whether those who had no regular
nominations from General Garibaldi ought to profit by
this decree ; by far the greater number of officers were in
this. category, and it was decided to give them only three
months’ pay. Such protests and difficulties were, however,
raised by the Garibaldians, who were in Naples, that the
new ministry, the last one formed by Cavour, decreed the
transfer of the commission to Turin.
One day Fanti met me and said, ‘Let me be the first
to congratulate you.’ ‘What for?’ I answered. ‘The king
has named you to the military command of the kingdom
of the Two Sicilies; it is a splendid position, one of the
first, if not the first, in the new kingdom. ‘I am much
obliged to His Majesty,’ I replied, ‘ but, to tell you the truth,
I have no wish for such a post; and when the war is over,
my only desire is to return to where and what I was.’ I was
fully resolved only to give my services in the southern
provinces temporarily, and to resign sooner than take up
my residence there. As the king said nothing to me, I
held my tongue, but determined to speak frankly to him
next morning. Very early, before I was dressed, he sent
PRINCE EUGENE OF CARIGNANO 205
for me, and at once asked why I had been so out of temper
the day before. ‘For many reasons, I answered ; ‘and as
your Majesty is good enough to ask me, I will tell you them,’
Repeating Fanti’s words, I reminded him that early in the
year I had repeatedly refused the command offered until
I knew war to be imminent. ‘I think I have done my
duty,’ I added, ‘and been of some service to the Italian
cause ; but in time of peace my only wish is to remain with
your Majesty. As first aide-de-camp, I can follow and
serve your Majesty in the field, and be near you in time
of peace.’
After a moment’s silence the king came up to me, and
taking my hands, said he was as jealous of my military
reputation as I could be, and would never permit me to
leave the service, but that for his sake I must undertake to
arrange military affairs in the southern provinces, and
accept for the moment the military command of the ex-
kingdom of the Two Sicilies. I promised him to do my
best, on condition that the government sent me men and
money when I required them. This condition was not
kept, as will be seen hereafter. :
The king passed Christmas at Naples, and left for
Turin on the 26th December. Soon afterwards Prince
Eugene of Carignano came as viceroy, and occupied the
state rooms of the royal palace. Thanks to his gracious
manners and his generosity, he was very popular at Naples.
To me he was always kindness itself, and overwhelmed
my family, who lived on the second floor of the palace,
with attentions. I was so busy that, with the exception of
state dinners, when my wife, as lady-in-waiting to the late
queen, was asked to receive the wives and daughters of the
guests, I declined all invitations. The Southern Army,
z.¢., the volunteers, gave me plenty of work, and the re-
actionary party was busy in various districts of the ex-
kingdom. The country was infested with armed bands,
206 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF. A VETERAN
augmented by malcontents and men out of work, led by
a few officers of the Bourbon army, or by discredited
Garibaldians, such as La Monaco, who stirred up disorders
in Sicily. Outbreaks occurred in various places, and I had
to divide and sub-divide my troops in order to protect the
inhabitants. After the departure of the king things grew
worse. The greater part of the troops were engaged at
the siege at Gaeta, or in Sicily under Brignone, and I
applied in vain to the ministry for reinforcements. The
brigands were so numerous, and so many were shot, that
orders came from Turin to execute only the chiefs. My
officers, realising the necessity of capital punishment in cer-
tain districts where it was only possible to govern by fear,
telegraphed, ‘ four, five, six armed brigand chiefs arrested in
such a place’; to which I replied, ‘Shoot them. After a
time Fanti, struck by the extraordinary number of chiefs,
sent orders that they were not to be shot, but taken
prisoners. Prisons and barracks were soon insufficient
to contain the prisoners; and, after the capture of
Gaeta, the disbanded Bourbon soldiers and the volun-
teers, who had spent what money they had, joined the
rapscallions.
Disorder was also rife in Naples. Mazzini made his
appearance, wearing the Garibaldian uniform, and sent his
agents into the provinces to stir up discontent in the army.
This I knew from a letter to the police which was com-
municated to me. He was carefully watched, and soon
afterwards disappeared for the second time. Then the
government, in spite of my reiterated demands, did not
send money from Turin for the monthly pay of the troops
and the Garibaldian volunteers, who made a row outside
the gates of the Treasury. I wrote to Fanti and to Cavour
for money and reinforcements, without any result ; the only
consolation I had was that the disgust of the Prince of
Carignano equalled my own. He threatened to return
BRIGANDAGE AND DISORDER 207
to Turin and let them give the vice-royalty to anyone
who would accept it. At last I had the following letter
from Cavour in January :—
‘DEAR LA Rocca,—. .. After some trouble, I have
at last induced Fanti to send you a brigade. I hope they
will embark on the frigate which is expected from Naples;
make the most of them. I must beg, however, that you
will not leave Sicily without help in case of any serious
disturbances in the island.
‘ After much negotiation I have come to an understand-
ing with the emperor. The whole fleet will leave on the
19th, and on the 20th we shall be free to attack the place
(Gaeta) from land and sea.
‘IT am not afraid of the reactionary movement, or of the
help afforded to it: by France. I am used to a double
current from Paris. Rondon, the minister of war, is most
useful to us. His orders must come from a Bourbon
source. But, once the fleet is withdrawn, I hope the be-
haviour of the French soldiers will undergo a change. In
any case, it is useless to worry about it.
‘Fanti has also decided to summon the Garibaldian
and Neapolitan officers here. I shall do all I can to assist
you in this arduous matter. I know I can rely on your
firmness and shrewdness. The prince is well disposed ;
Nigra! is clever. Working well together, you will succeed
in restoring order in the kingdom’ (of Naples), ‘It will be
an immense service rendered to Italy.... Adieu.
CU; GAVOUR, *
1 Secretary of State to the Prince of Carignano, who was beginning his
brilliant diplomatic career under the auspices of Cavour.— 7Zvanslator’s Note.
2*Caro La Rocca,—. . . Ho deciso non senza fatica Fanti a spedirti
una brigata. Spero imbarcarla sulle fregate che aspetto da Napoli; fanne
buon pro’, Ti raccommando perd, in caso di disordini gravi in Sicilia, di
-non lasciare Visola senza aiuti. .
‘Dopo infinite pratiche sono giunto ad intendermela con |’Imperatore.
208 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OFA VETERAN
The brigade sent by Fanti was that of Pisa, small and
badly commanded. Fortunately troops were not needed
in Sicily ; but I considered the reinforcement insufficient,
and asked in vain for others. My discontent was aug-
mented by the conduct of the minister of war, who
suspended General Pinelli and sent General Mezzacapo
in his stead, without consulting me, and made him inde-
pendent of my command. I sent in my resignation, but
the king refused to accept it. The temporary suspension
of Pinelli, who was doing excellent service against the
brigand and Papal troops in the Abruzzi, was rendered
necessary by a violent proclamation he published after
falling into a trap laid by the Communal Council of a
reactionary village. He actually called the Head of the
Church, ‘that clerical vampire, who for centuries has sucked
the blood of our mother with his foul lips.’
On the 14th February our troops entered Gaeta. Early
in the same month there was a revolt among the convicts
employed in the harbour. This was to be expected,
because, after the departure of the Bourbons, secret agents
were at work among the lowest classes of the population.
The police were not as good as they ought to have been,
and we were unwillingly obliged to inculcate respect for
law and morality by force.
Tutta la flotta partira il 19,ed il 20 saremo liberi di attaccare la piazza per
terra e per mare.
‘Non mi spavento della reazione e degli aiuti che la Francia le da. Sono
avvezzo a veder partire da Parigi una doppia corrente. Il Ministro della
guerra Rondon ci é utilissimo. Le sue istruzioni debbono essere borboniane.
Spero pero che, ritirata la flotta, il contegno dei soldati francesi mutera ; ad
ogni modo non bisogna darsene soverchio pensiero.
‘Fanti si ¢ pure deciso a chiamare qui i Garibaldini ufficiali e gli ufficiali
Napoletani. Faccio quanto sta in me per agevolarvi l’ardua impresa. So di
poter fare assegnamento sulla tua fermezza e il tuo accorgimento. Il Principe
é ben disposto ; Nigra ha ingegno. Tutti insieme camminando d’accordo
riuscirete a ristabilire l’ordine nel regno. Sara un servizio immenso reso
all’Italia.... Addio. C. Cavour.’
BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION 209
In the middle and upper classes the sense of morality
was exceedingly low. During the dictatorship of Garibaldi
abuses had crept in which had to be reformed. Under the
pretext of lodging soldiers, every disposable house was
occupied. Some of the Garibaldians had taken possession
of rooms, not only for themselves and their families, but
for letting. I appointed a commission of inquiry of some
of our generals with those of the Garibaldian army, and
of the members of the Communal Council who had been
charged with distributing the billets. It was difficult to
make them understand that this abuse must be put a
stop to; but at last it was decided that in thirty days
the houses were to be cleared of all who had no right to
be there.
Some days later I received a visit from one of the mem-
bers of the Council. With perfect self-possession he said,
‘Listen, dear friend. My brother occupies several rooms
in such a street. Poor fellow! he has such a lot of children
that he is forced to turn his hand to anything in order to
gain a living; he only keeps two rooms for himself, and he
lets the others. Can you not allow him to keep them?
Though he is my brother, I cannot do much for him.
What do you say?’ I looked at him with astonishment.
He bore a great name, and he was rich, or, at all events,
well off, yet he coolly proposed not only to disobey the
very decision he had voted, but to do a dishonest action
in favour of his brother. Other people were waiting to
see me, so I rose, saying, ‘Your brother and his tenants
must be out before the end of the month ; and remember
that you have said nothing and that I have heard nothing.’
He was rather taken aback, but left the room.
Another day a rich contractor came to beg me to
recommend him for an important government contract.
I told him to leave his proposal for examination, be-
cause I was busy. As he was going I saw him put
O
210 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN.
something on the mantelpiece—evidently a rouleau
of gold.
‘I beg your pardon,’ said I; ‘what is that?’ ‘Only a
small offering, he quietly replied, ‘for the person who
assists me in this matter. ‘I’d throw you and your
money out of the window, I exclaimed; ‘but I see you
don’t know what morality means. Take what belongs
to you; go, and don’t come back.’
A gentleman, well known in science and politics, called
on me and said, ‘ My son is an officer, and has been at the
siege of Gaeta. Now, they say, he is to be sent to that of
Messina. Not to mention the fatigue, there will also be
danger, and he would rather go to some garrison town.’
‘My dear sir,’ I replied, ‘our officers ask to be sent on
active service. I willnot do your son the injustice to think
he would act otherwise, or imagine that you care more for
his life than his honour. We will forget that anything has
been said, and your young officer will go wherever he is
ordered.’
I got very tired of this sort of thing, and of writing
over and over again for troops and for remittances.
Instead of accepting my resignation, Fanti proposed that
I should exchange the command of the 5th corps d@armée
for that of the 6th, which was to be sent to the southern
provinces, and retain the position of commander-in-chief
at Naples, in obedience to the wishes of the Prince of
Carignano. This I refused; and after waiting in vain
during the month of April for my successor to be ap-
pointed, I seized the pretext of an important discussion
in the Senate early in May, took leave of the prince (who I
knew intended to follow my example), and returned to
Turin.
The kingdom of Italy had only been constituted a few
months before by Parliamentary law, a natural consequence
of the slébisczte, and Victor Emanuel had at once been
DEATH OF CAVOUR 211
acknowledged as King of Italy by England. Save Austria,
the Pope and the ex-princes, no other power had protested,
and evidently were inclined to follow the example of
England. Internal affairs, however, were not so promising.
Stormy scenes occurred in the Chambers. While La Mar-
mora, in bitter language, opposed the new organisation of
the army, Garibaldi flung insults at Cavour, and Cialdini
violently, but justly, criticised Garibaldi. I then saw that
these internal difficulties had prevented the government
from giving more attention to the affairs of the new
provinces. That terrible struggle between Cavour
and Garibaldi, the two greatest factors after Victor
Emanuel of Italian unity, was at its height. The death
of Cavour, which took place forty days later, was attri-
buted by many to the mental sufferings he underwent at
that time. I saw Cavour a few days after I arrived at
Turin, and related my impressions of the Neapolitan pro-
vinces. Struck by the gravity of the report, he summoned
me to a council of ministers to repeat publicly what I had
told him in private.
On the 6th June all Italy went into mourning for the
death of her great son. He was, and he will remain, one
of the greatest figures of the nineteenth century—if not
the greatest. Without Cavour it would have taken cen-
turies to form a united Italy; thanks to him, it was done
in little more than twenty years. The prologue was in
1848, the epilogue in 1870, after the death of the great
minister.
CHAPTER XIX
1861-1864
I go to Berlin as Ambassador Extraordinary—Coronation of William I.—
The Earl of Clarendon offers his Services—Napoleon demands a
Guarantee.
THE Prince of Carignano left Naples for Turin soon after
I did. Count Ponzo di S. Martino was named in his
stead as viceroy, and General Durando assumed the
military command. He had no more luck than myself,
and, after begging in vain for more troops and more money,
sent in his resignation after a few months’ service.
The 5th corps d’armée had meanwhile been sent to
Tuscany, and I gladly resumed the command. In the
autumn, just as my wife was preparing for the move to
Florence, the king sent for me, and offered me the first
military command (Turin). General Hector de Sonnaz
wished to go to Florence, and I was only too glad to
return to Turin, and thus be enabled to continue my
service of first aide-de-camp to the king. Victor Emanuel
had kept his promise and fulfilled my dearest wishes.
Some weeks later I was sent as ambassador extraor-
dinary to Berlin, to attend the coronation of William L.,
who succeeded his brother King Frederick William IV.
of Prussia. All the great European powers were to be
212
I GO AS AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY 213
represented, and although the new kingdom of Italy had
not been recognised by Prussia, the friendly relations
which had always existed between that State and Sar-
dinia made it advisable to send an ambassador to the
coronation. ,
The mission was not so difficult or so important as that
of 1858 to the Emperor Napoleon ITI.; still, La Marmora
having failed several months before to obtain the recogni-
tion by Prussia of the new kingdom of Italy, it was not
quite plain sailing. My business was to do nothing and
say nothing about any recognition, but quietly to assume
the position, not of ambassador of the King of Sardinia,
but of the King of Italy.
In the second week of October I left with a numerous
suite of officers, all clever, handsome, well-bred young
fellows, who did their country credit. The day after my
arrival at Berlin I presented my credentials to Baron von
Bernsdorf, Minister of Foreign Affairs. They were made
out for the ambassador extraordinary from King Victor —
Emanuel to His Majesty King William I. Glancing at them,
the minister said, ‘Why His Majesty King William, and
not His Majesty the King of Prussia?’ Feigning ignorance,
I answered, ‘If this form does not please your excellency,
I will at once send to Turin and have it changed into
ambassador from the King of Italy to His Majesty the King
of Prussia.’ ‘No, no; it does not matter, he said. Berns-
dorf did not seem altogether satisfied, but made the best of
it, and was very courteous. Two days afterwards I was
received by King William I. with the same ceremonial as
the French and English ambassadors. He greeted me
personally with great cordiality, having known me in 1850.
The coronation took place a few days later, and I
summoned the little diplomacy I possessed to my aid to
avoid making some false step, as the ex-King of Naples had
not recalled his ambassador, who was invited with the other
214. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
members of the diplomatic corps in Berlin, and, poor
fellow! cut a sorry figure.
A special train, with a reserved carriage marked by a
card for each ambassador, was to take us down to Keenigs-
berg. Walking down the platform with my suite, I saw a
card with ‘His Excellency the Ambassador of the King
of Sardinia,’ attached to a carriage. We passed without
noticing it, and meeting a court official, I said, ‘ Excuse me,
but I cannot find the carriage for the ambassador of His
Majesty King Victor Emanuel. The official disappeared,
and soon returned and conducted me to where I had seen
the first card, now changed for one bearing the words, ‘ His
Excellency the Ambassador of His Majesty King Victor
Emanuel.’
The coronation took place in the chapel of the castle
of Koenigsberg, where Frederick I., the great Elector of
Brandenburg crowned himself King of Prussia in 1701.
Long, wide galleries, leading to the chapel, flanked the huge
halls, and in one of them were ranged the foreign princes,
ambassadors, ministers and distinguished visitors. The
king, who walked under a canopy, was dressed in red velvet
embroidered in gold, and a long ermine mantle; in one
hand he held the sceptre, in the other a globe surmounted
by a gold cross, exactly like the pictures of Charlemagne
and the old German emperors. After him walked
numerous German princes and knights in rich robes, and
officers in every kind of uniform. The picturesque proces-
sion passed slowly before us, and people generally thought
it very impressive; I confess it appeared to me rather
theatrical.
I was treated by everybody on the same footing as the
ambassadors of France, England, and other great powers,
to the annoyance of the Austrian ambassador, that same
prince of Liechtenstein who took such a dislike to me in
Paris in 1858. It was common talk among the members
CORONATION OF WILLIAM I. 215
of the diplomatic body that the other powers would soon
follow the example of France and England, and officially
recognise the new kingdom of Italy. Some of them offered
me their services with the Prussian Court, with a view to
accelerate the recognition; especially Lord Clarendon,
Ambassador of Her Britannic Majesty, Queen Victoria.
But I had no authority from Ricasoli! to accept any such
offers; on the contrary, absolute neutrality had been
1 I"give some of the telegrams bearing on this question.
* BERLIN, 13 Octobre 61,
‘A. S. E. Ricasoli.
‘Lord Clarendon m’a offert ses services demandant s’il pouvait étre
agréable au Roi et gouvernement de parler 4 Bernsdorf et Roi lui méme, si
occasion se présentait, pour reconnaissance nétre royaume, ou du moins con-
naitre raison du retard. Jen ’ai pas laissé gnorer que ne puis faire politique,
ni prononcer mot reconnaissance avec Gouvernement prussien, mais pas cru
devoir refuser bons offices ; je pense que Clarendon veut pas ceder 4 Mac-
Mahon honneur obtenir notre reconnaissance. En tout cas ma politique est
profiter des circonstances et bon vouloir Clarendon. J’ai prévenu Comte de
Launay de tout ceci. . DELLA Rocca.’
“14 Octobre 61.
‘ Réponse Ricasoli :
‘ Nous avons promis au Gouvernement prussien de ne faire aucune démarche
pour reconnaissance 4 l’occasion du couronnement, par conséquent si Claren-
don fait ouverture, doit étre bien entendu sera sans aucune participation de V.
E. Veuillez causer avec De Launay. RICASOLI.’
*‘ KG@NIGSBERG, 17 Octobre.
‘Je fais trop mauvaise figure ne pouvant répondre a certaines questions,
Veuillez me tenir au courant politique, desire savoir si Général La Marmora est
nommé a Naples. Recu dépéche, ne me suis’ ‘amais ecarté vos instructions ;
toutes questions etiquette marchent d’une maniére satisfaisante jusqu’ a
present. DELLA Rocca.’
‘ Réponse Ricasoli :
‘Je réponds sans delai a votre télégramme d’hier. La Marmora vient
d’accepter commandement des troupes 4 Naples et temporairement les
fonctions de Préfet de la province Naples. L/abolition de la Lieutenance de
Naples et du gouvernement de la Toscane est decidée, et le decret relatif sera
publié prochainement avec la loi de décentralisation administrative. Les
choses 4 Naples marchent assez bien, et j’espére marcheront mieux.’
216 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
imposed upon me. A few months afterwards, Prussia,
Russia, Belgium and Portugal recognised the new kingdom. |
I only alluded to it once. A new Catholic church was
consecrated with great pomp while I was at Berlin, and
everyone had been invited except the Ambassador of King
Victor Emanuel. I was dining at court that night, and
King William, raising his voice, asked me, across the table,
if the ceremony had been a striking one, and whether there
were many spectators. Answering, so that everyone might
hear, I said, ‘I don’t know, your Majesty. I was at the
hospital, where there are several Italians I was charged
to assist by the King of Italy.’
The leading personalities then in Berlin were the
English and French ambassadors. The latter had been
allowed a million for his expenses, the empress had lent
some of her jewels to the Maréchale MacMahon, and work-
men had been sent from Paris to decorate the French
Legation, and turn the courtyard into a huge ballroom.
Clarendon ridiculed such extravagance as pertaining to a
parvenu, and neither he nor the rich Duke of Ossuna
imitated it.
On the termination of my mission I returned to Turin,
and was able to pass a few weeks at Luserna with my wife
and little girls. The first three years of the new kingdom
of Italy were among the happiest and most fortunate of
my life; I wish I could say the same for my country.
When in 1860 Cavour returned to power, he induced
Napoleon to relinquish his idea of a congress for settling
the so-called Italian question, and persuaded him to
consent to our annexation of the Duchies and the
Legations after a plébiscite. This was paid for by the
cession of the two frontier provinces, Nice and Savoy.
But after the death of Cavour the emperor drew back, and
the negotiations relating to the recall of the French troops
from Rome were dropped. Matters went pretty smoothly
NAPOLEON DEMANDS A GUARANTEE 217
in northern and central Italy, but in the southern
provinces our representatives were incessantly being
changed without contenting either the population or the
government.
In spite of his hesitating policy, the emperor was
faithful to Victor Emanuel, and sent:a fleet to salute him
at Naples, when he passed through from the inauguration
of the railway between Pescara and Foggia. Victor
Emanuel went on board the admiral’s vessel, and was
received with enthusiasm by the French sailors. Rejoicings
at Naples were cut short by his sudden departure. He was
recalled to the capital by the events which preceded the
sad affair of Aspromonte. Home politics were upset.
Rattazzi, who had succeeded Ricasoli, fell, and poor Farini,
a shadow of his former self, was called to form a new
ministry. After a few weeks he was forced to resign the
presidency to Minghetti. Ministers changed, but the
difficulties, chiefly caused by the presence of a French
garrison in Rome, remained. Without demanding any
guarantee, the emperor, trusting in Cavour’s political
sagacity, had promised him that in 1861 it should be
withdrawn. But Napoleon had no faith in his successors ;
he feared arousing the enmity of the Catholic powers, who
wished to keep the Pope at Rome, and he insisted on some
pledge or guarantee that Rome should not be wrested
from the Sovereign Pontiff. Hitherto none had been
found which seemed calculated to assure him against the
machinations of the revolutionary parties. At last, in the
summer of 1864, a way out of the difficulty was suggested
by an Italian relation of the emperor, and Turin was
called upon to make the sacrifice. Turin would have
gladly made it had it been asked for the good of Italy, but
it was torn from her by treachery and force. As I was
intimately mixed up, not in the conspiracy (against Turin),
but in its consequences, I must explain what occurred after
218 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
the so-called Convention of September. The negotiations,
which had been begun in June by the Minghetti ministry,
were continued by Visconti-Venosta, through the agency
of Menabrea, who went several times to see the emperor;
finally the Convention was signed in Paris on the 15th
September 1864. The important article was the removal
of the capital from Turin. Outside government circles
nothing was known in Turin till the 20th, the day after a
council of generals was held, under the presidency of the
Prince of Carignano. This council was simply a farce,
held in order to be able to tell the Chambers that the
generals had been consulted as to the strategical ad-
vantage of transferring the capital. The prince declared
that he was only authorised to ask us to name which city,
with the exception of Rome and Naples, was most fitted to
be the capital of Italy. The question was put first to our
doyen, General Hector de Sonnaz, who tried to couple his
answer with certain objections. Prince Eugéne at once
stopped him, saying, ‘I can listen to no comments and
no appreciations. I can only receive the name of the city
which strategically in your opinion is most suited for a
capital.’ We agreed that, strategically speaking, the best
capital, that is the easiest to defend, was Florence. This
sufficed for telling the Chambers that the generals had
unanimously indicated Florence as the future capital of
Italy. The Convention had. been signed some days, and
the king had already suggested Florence, because it lay
on the road to Rome, which he did not intend to renounce.
Victor Emanuel was not easy to persuade; he often
combated the ideas of his ministers, and occasionally
insisted on carrying out his own. But once convinced
(Cavour generally succeeded in convincing him), he frankly
accepted what he considered his duty, and never wasted
time in vain words of regret.
CHAPTER XX
1864
Riots in Turin—Police fire on the People—‘ Rome or Death ’—I invite Ming-
hetti to resign—La Marmora Prime Minister—Ricasoli appeals to the
Patriotism of the Piedmontese Deputies.
THE negotiations for the Convention had been conducted
with such absolute secrecy that, on the 19th September,
when the generals met, the public suspected nothing.
Vague reports circulated next day, but the news was
only definitely known when published in the ministerial
papers, the Ofznzone, the Stampa and the Gazzetta di Torino,
on the 21st. The Stampa and the Opznzone made no com-
ment, but the Gazzetta accompanied the announcement
with hurried words, containing veiled irony and covert
threats against the people of Turin. Demonstrations
were immediately made in front of the ministries to
the cry of ‘Down with the ministers!’ ‘Rome or death!’
Rioting also took place near the office of the Gazzetta
at Torino.
Nearly the whole garrison had been sent, by ministerial
orders, to Cigliano, beyond S. Maurizio, to take part in
some sham battles. On the 20th I reviewed the troops,
and sent them off, and next day, at dawn, left Turin with
my staff to assist at the manceuvres. Returning at dusk,
I saw Major Corvetto, of the staff, at the station of
Chivasso, evidently waiting for me. I made him get into
219
220 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
my carriage, and he then told me what had happened
in Turin, and also gave me an official letter, which had
reached my headquarters after three in the afternoon.
The ministers were evidently alarmed, as they had
called a Cabinet council at the first news of the riot-
ing, which, after all, was not very serious. No one
knew better than themselves that the commander of
the territorial troops was absent, yet the letter said
‘Your Excellency is requested to commission Colonel
Formenti, commanding the 1st Legion of Gendarmes,
to take command of the troops necessary for the
repression of present disorders, or of those which may
occur to-night or to-morrow.’ The handwriting was
unknown to me, but the minister of war, General
Della Rovere, had added these lines: ‘When the terri-
torial commander arrives, he will take whatever steps
he considers best.—THE MINISTER OF WAR.’ I reached
Turin between nine and ten at night and was
at once informed that an excited crowd was going
down Via Nuova, towards Piazza Castello, which was ©
occupied by young, untrained gendarmes. Police, known
by their accent not to be Piedmontese, were stationed at
the corner of every street; they were Milanese or Nea-
politans, and instead of calming the populace, seemed to
excite them.
I sent one of my aides-de-camp back to Cigliano to
order the troops to return, and then walked to the ministry
of war. With the exception of Piazza Castello, Via Nuova
and part of Via del Po, the city was perfectly tranquil.
After waiting more than an hour, I was leaving the war
office, when Della Rovere arrived and told me what had
. just happened. Piazza Castello had been invaded by a
mob from Piazza San Carlo, furious with the gendarmes
and the police, who had hit the people with the flat of their
swords to make them disperse. A shot from some un-
RIOTS IN TURIN 221
known hand, followed by a second, was taken as a signal
by the gendarmes to fire a volley. Over fifty people fell
dead, wounded, or senseless from fright, and in an instant
the square was deserted. Della Rovere expected more
serious rioting next day, and ordered me to accelerate the
return of the troops from the Camp of Instruction. He
told me nothing about the cabinet Council held that day.
Afterwards the ministers Minghetti and Peruzzi said that
it had been decided to unite the civil and military powers
under my command. This is very improbable, as no
alarming riots had taken place ; indeed, I should say there
never was any occasion for alarm. The number of idle
lookers-on largely exceeded the rioters, and would have
been easily dispersed by the usual bugle call without using
firearms.
Leaving Della Rovere, I went to headquarters to send
off the orders and prepare for the morrow, and then to the
minister of the interior to inform him of my arrangements.
I found the corridor of the Home Office guarded by
gendarmes, and the ministers, with one or two exceptions,
in a state of excitement and anxiety, which astonished me.
I told Peruzzi (minister of the interior) that six thousand
men would arrive from Cigliano early in the morning, to
be followed before noon by others, and made some sug-
gestions for tranquillising the population. It was agreed
between the ministers of the interior, of war, and myself that
as soon as the troops arrived they should patrol the streets.
Early in the morning the troops were there; but I
waited in vain for the police delegates, without whom the
patrols could not legally act. At last they arrived, and
soon afterwards the police magistrate, Chiapusso, sent to
ask for troops to protect the vicinity of Piazza San Carlo.
I went to the Home Office, and, among other things, asked
Peruzzi if the National Guard was to be employed together
with the troops. He said, ‘Certainly not; the whole service
222 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
would be confided to the regular troops.’ At mid-day I
heard, to my astonishment, that the National Guard had
just been called out. The truth is, the ministers had lost
their heads. Meanwhile, a mob had collected in Piazza
San Carlo, throwing stones at the office windows of the
Gazzetta di Torino, and shouting, ‘ Down with the Gazzetta /
Down with the traitorous ministers! Rome or death!’
Chiapusso, misled by the exaggerated reports of an agent,
sent a small force of gendarmes and police, who were
received with hisses and abuse. The bugle note of warn-
ing, calling the people to disperse, was sounded, but the
row prevented those at any distance from hearing; so the
doors of the police office were flung open, forty young
gendarme recruits rushed out, broke through the line of
infantry, and threw themselves on the crowd. A shot was
heard, then another, and the troops, thinking they were
attacked, fired. Owing to the unfortunate manner in
which they had been stationed (by Chiapusso’s orders), at
the corners of the square, they shot, not only people in the
crowd, but their own comrades. The colonel and the
ensign of the 17th regiment were severely wounded, and
several soldiers killed and wounded.
I found the ministers in a state of great agitation—so
alarmed that Minghetti actually proposed to declare
martial law. I could not refrain from combating this
with considerable warmth, and then assured them, if they
would withdraw magistrate, police and gendarmes, and
entrust the maintenance of order to the troops, tranquillity
would soon be restored. When Della Rovere, who had
been ill and was lying on the sofa, heard me oppose the
proposal of Minghetti, he jumped up, exclaiming, ‘La
Rocca is right! I, minister of war, am absolutely against
any such measure.’ ‘But you have sent in your resigna-
tion, observed Minghetti, ironically. ‘Quite true, on
account of ill-health; but, seeing the dangerous condition
re
DISMISSAL OF MINGHETTI 223
of things, I have withdrawn my resignation. I remain at
my post, and such material and moral injury shall not be
done to Turin with my consent. She has been sorely
tried, and will have more to bear!’
On the night of the 22d, or rather at two in the morn-
ing of the 23d, I returned home, and thought it my duty
to draw up a report of what had happened for His Majesty.
Contrary to my usual habit, I ventured to add that,
in my opinion, he ought to dismiss the present Cabinet.
My messenger crossed Count Castiglione, who brought me
a letter from the king, stating his intention of dismissing
the ministry, but directing me to consult first with the
Prince of Carignano. If, as was most probable, the prince
approved, I was ordered to go to the prime minister,
and invite him and his colleagues to send in their resig-
nation.
The Prince of Carignano agreed that the sooner the
ministers resigned the better. So I went to Minghetti,
with whom was Peruzzi, and delivered my message. Min-
ghetti angrily refused to accept verbal orders, and tele-
graphed to Sommariva for an order signed by the king.
An hour later the answer came, but he did not show it to
me. Sneering ironically, as when he spoke to Della Rovere, |
he said, ‘We resign, and hand over all civil and military
powers to you. Now, see whether you can tranquillise the
‘people and prevent fresh disturbances.’ |
I could not refrain from saying, ‘ Rest assured there
will be none, save, perhaps, a slight demonstration in an
hour or so—but of a different kind.’
‘I understand, of course,’ replied Minghetti, ‘demon-
strations of joy for our fall.’
From the ministry I went to Hotel Foeder to see La
Marmora, who had just arrived from Switzerland, to give
him an order from the king to form a Cabinet. He had
been absent during the negotiations for the Convention,
224 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF .A VETERAN
of which he disapproved, and brusquely said, ‘ Yes, yes;
follies are committed, and then I am charged to remedy
them.’ In spite of his reluctance, however, he undertook
the task, and secured the co-operation of Giovanni Lanza,
respected and esteemed by every Piedmontese.
During the day (23d) numerous detachments of infantry |
traversed the city, which was perfectly tranquil in every
direction. I had confined the gendarmes to their barracks,
sent the extra police out of Turin, and Chiapusso to pursue
his avocation in another city. I ordered the theatres to
be reopened on the 25th, which diminished the crowd in
the cafés, and the city soon resumed its usual aspect.
There was a slight effervescence on the day (24th October)
of the opening of the Chambers, but chiefly in the clubs
and cafés. The truth is, the Piedmontese were profoundly
irritated. The so-called pledge, which had not been de-
manded by Napoleon of Cavour, when in 1861 the latter
stipulated the withdrawal of the French troops from Rome,
was now to be dearly paid by the people of Turin. They
had been ready—nay, anxious—to make any sacrifice for
the union of Italy, with Rome as capital, ever since the day
when Camillo Cavour summoned the Parliament in the
small Piedmontese capital to proclaim that Rome must
be the great capital of the new kingdom of Italy. But now
that our going to Rome seemed almost hopeless, the Pied-
montese were furious, and insisted that the national
programme, according to the policy of Cavour, should be
carried out. In vain we endeavoured to convince them
that from Florence we should proceed to Rome; in vain
Victor Emanuel exclaimed, ‘Florence is but a stage on
the way; to Rome we shall go.’
The discussions on the law for the transfer of the
capital lasted all through November and part of December.
In spite of violent, but useless, opposition, the king, having
already, by virtue of the power given him by the Constitu-
APPEALS TO PIEDMONTESE DEPUTIES 225
tion, signed the Convention ; the law passed by a great
majority in the Chambers, and also in the Senate, although
opposed by several leading men, particularly by Massimo
D’Azeglio.
Excitement increased in Turin as the day approached
for the opening of Parliament. The Turinese naturally
resented the decapitalisation of their city without any
apparent gain to Italy. Several deputies wanted to put
the ministers, who had proposed and signed the Conven-
tion, on their trial for high treason, as having acted in
contravention of the national vote, expressed and sanc-
tioned in 1861 by the Parliament. |
The situation was difficult and involved, and discord
reigned between Italians. The patriot Bettino Ricasoli
resolved to try and put an end to such a condition of
things. He inscribed his name first on the list of intend-
ing speakers, and made an eloquent speech in favour
' of concord and brotherly love which ought to unite the
representatives of the various Italian provinces. He
appealed to the Piedmontese deputies to set the ex-
ample, and add yet another sacrifice to the many made
for the unity of Italy. His words touched all hearts,
and carried the day; enmity and rancour were, if not
forgotten, at least momentarily stifled in a wave of
patriotism.
I soon saw that the ex-ministers and their partisans
could not forgive the accusations made against them by
the Turinese ; and also that they erroneously believed that I
had induced the king to dismiss them on the 23d Sep-
tember, and intended that I should suffer for it. They
discovered, what no one had suspected during the sixteen
years the Constitution had been in force, that it was
unconstitutional for one man to hold the offices of
chief aide-de-camp to the king and commander of any
considerable force, such as an army corps. Although
P
226 . AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
this was something very like an insult to the most
constitutional of kings, friends of the fallen ministry
found influential people to listen to them, the more so
that La Marmora, President of the Council, was on
their side.
CMRAPTER XXI
1865
The Mob insults the King’s Guests—The King leaves for Florence—
Closer Alliance with Prussia.
ON the first of the year 1865 the king, according to old
usage, went in state to the theatre, and was very warmly
received, in spite of the discontent still existing among all
classes about the transfer of the capital. This discontent
was manifested by a small demonstration on the night of
the first Court ball, the 30th January. A crowd assembled
at the palace gates, and as the carriages passed hisses and
shouts of ‘Down with Florence as capital! Long live
Rome!’ were raised. Stones were thrown at the carriage
windows, while the National Guard looked stolidly on.
I was standing with His Majesty at a window of the
palace when the disturbance began, but there was no great
crowd, and neither of us thought there was any danger. I
begged the king to return to the ballroom, and went down
into the square. After seeing the last carriage enter the
palace gates, I followed and told the king everything was
quieter.
I was even more struck by the emptiness of the ball-
‘room than by the row in the street. Many guests had not
come, and most of the ladies had been frightened and
227
228 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF-A VETERAN
returned home. The wives of the high Court officials were
represented by my wife and the old Marchioness Spinola,
a very small, thin woman, who always dressed in the
fashions of 1830, a tight and short gown, which looked
very odd among the crinolines and sweeping skirts. It
was said that she never discarded her old dresses, had not
bought a new one since the death of her husband, and
wore her old ones by turns at the Court dinners and balls.
Anyhow, she made such a contrast to my wife that the
king, in spite of his annoyance, was much amused.
Next day the papers were filled with exaggerated
descriptions of the demonstration, and some of the
ministers succeeded in representing the affair to the
king in such a way as to give it considerable political
importance. The syndic of Turin, Marquis di Rora,
was also blamed for not going with the municipal
authorities to present the excuses of the citizens of Turin,
and beg the king to pardon the disgraceful scenes of the
30th January. There was so much talk and fuss that the
king lost all patience and decided to leave at once for
Florence. He was enthusiastically cheered during the
journey, and received with every sign of love and
cratitude.
I must now revert to my own experiences during the
early days of 1865, certainly among the saddest in my life.
On the last of January and the Ist of February the king
was worried and preoccupied. On the 2d I was detained all
day at my office and did not see him, so he sent Castiglione
late in the evening to my house with a message. The
ministers and some other persons had so effectually suc-
ceeded in rousing the anger of the king against the
Turinese, and against their syndic, for not having offered
any apology for the occurrences of the 30th, that he had
resolved to leave Turin next day for Florence. ‘The king
imagines, added Castiglione, after a pause, ‘that you are
THE KING LEAVES FOR FLORENCE 229
as much disgusted as he is by all that has happened, and
will have no objection to throw up your command here
and follow him to Florence.’
I was so taken aback by these words, of which I at
once saw the hidden meaning, that I remained silent for
a moment. I then said, ‘I am most grateful to His
Majesty for wishing me to accompany him, but I cannot
resign my command; if I am dismissed, the dishonour will
be unbearable, as people would suppose that I had a hand
in the slaughter of September, and in the recent disorders,
I know there is the rumour that I am to lose one of my
appointments, and, however painful it will be for me to leave
the king, after passing twenty-five years in almost daily
intercourse with him, I shall resign the post of first aide-de-
camp to His Majesty.’
Castiglione assured me that the king knew perfectly
well that no blame attached to me, but since the question
had been raised, and the two appointments had been
declared incompatible, the king thought I might retain
the post of chief aide-de-camp and follow him to Florence.
My cousin tried hard, probably by the king’s orders, to gild
the pill, but it was too bitter a one for me to swallow.
La Marmora, in proposing these measures, had acted as
I should not have done towards my worst enemy. In
spite of what Castiglione said, I gathered that I was to
be deprived of the command of the army corps of the
department of Turin, and resolved to do my utmost to retain
it. I therefore sent in my resignation as first aide-de-camp
to His Majesty, fully determined to demand satisfaction of
La Marmora if the command was taken from me. I wrote
to the king to thank him for his constant kindness, and
said that, though most painful to me to resign a post I had
held for twenty-five years, my military honour demanded
that at this moment I should prefer the command of an
army corps to any other position. The king was already
230 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
at Florence, so I sent my letter to my brother Frederick,
who was on duty there, to give to His Majesty. Getting
no answer, and no news from my brother or from Castig-
_lione, I sent in my resignation to La Marmora, who, as
president of the Council, had accompanied the king to
Florence, adding that I should discard my uniform in order
to be free to demand satisfaction for the unmerited affront
received at his hands. The letter had just left when a
telegram came from my brother, calling me to Florence.
At the same time my wife received a letter from
Castiglione, written by order of the king, to say that
though, for political reasons, I could not be left in com-
mand of the Turin district, he had arranged with La
Marmora that I was to be named to the military command
in the new capital. This would enable me, even if I
resigned my post of first aide-de-camp, to be about the
king’s person as before, |
Victor Emanuel received me most cordially and kindly
and described how furious my letter had made La Mar-
mora; but he could not deny that all the trouble had been
caused by my dear cousin Alphonse, for His Majesty knew
better than myself how and why he disliked me. The king
tried to prove that the military command of a district was
a political post, but could not help laughing when I ex-
claimed, ‘Since when? Only since I have held the post,
and General Alphonse La Marmora has been president of
the council!’ He then added that he had induced La
Marmora to promise not to answer my challenge by word
of mouth or by letter, and that he hoped that I would show
the same deference to his wishes, and meet La Marmora as
though nothing had occurred between us. Touched by the
kindness of His Majesty, I promised to avoid all scandal.
A few days later I accompanied him to S. Rossore, near
Pisa, where a deputation from Turin brought a petition,
signed by many thousand Piedmontese, entreating Victor
CLOSER ALLIANCE WITH PRUSSIA 231
Emanuel to return to his old capital. The syndic, Rora,
had already been to Florence with an address which the
ministers rejected. The king, after some severe words of
censure, resumed his habitual indulgent kindliness, and
dismissed Rora with a promise that. he would spend part
of the spring in Turin.
Poor General Fanti died early in April, and I must do
La Marmora the justice to say that he at once fixed upon
me as his successor to the military command of the capital.
But the king, knowing how susceptible I was about my
military honour, insisted on my being reinstated in my old
command of Turin, thus giving me another proof of his
benevolence. I believe it was also good policy, as he thus
showed the people of Turin that he had found out they
had been calumniated and was determined to give satis-
faction to everyone.
We passed the winter of 1865 between Turin and
Florence, where the king had given us a nice apartment in
an annex of the Pitti Palace. The question of Schleswig-
Holstein was being hotly discussed in all Europe, and
threatened to be a cause for war between Austria and
Prussia. Italian politicians took advantage of this state
of things to draw the bonds of our alliance with Prussia
closer, who, by using our troops against Austria, would give
us the chance of obtaining the Venetian provinces.
La Marmora, as president of the council, was negotiat-
ing the alliance. At Florence the king spoke to me about
it, convinced that it would lead to the fulfilment of his one
desire in life—the independence and unity of Italy. He
talked of the hoped-for war with Austria, referring fre-
quently to the events of ’48, ’49 and ’60, as though it was
sure that I was again to be his companion in this new war.
I listened, but said to myself, war there will be, but they
will not let me be near the king as of old. In 1859 Victor
Emanuel could impose his will on La Marmora, Minister of
232 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
War, and choose his own chief of the staff. But in 1866 La
Marmora was president of the Council, and for six months
had been treating this alliance. The king certainly could
not give to anyone the post the minister had reserved for
himself, and least of all.to me.
CHAPTER XXII
1866 (FIRST PART)
False Statements of the Austrian Cabinet—Mobilisation of our Army—A
Newspaper Correspondent—Declaration of War by Prussia and Italy
—We cross the Mincio.
FOR a short time it seemed as though all fear of war had
passed, so my wife and daughters left for London, never
doubting that they would find me at Turin on their return.
About the 20th April the Austrian government, challenged
by several of the European Cabinets, declared that all arma-
ments on the Italian confines had been countermanded, and
all bellicose ideas abandoned. This was trumpeted abroad
in the papers; but troops were meanwhile being rapidly
concentrated on our frontier. Called upon for an explana-
tion, the Austrian Cabinet, as a justification of this sudden
change, gave two absolutely false reasons ; one, that Italy
was bringing numerous troops up from the south, and
massing them at Bologna and Piacenza, with a view to the
invasion of the Venetian provinces; the other, that Gari-
baldi, with his volunteers, had already entered Venetian
territory, near Rovigo. The so-called ‘numerous troops’
were two cavalry regiments, which had been sent to the
Neapolitan provinces in 1864 to repress brigandage, and
were now returning to their garrisons. Garibaldi had not
233
234 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
moved from Caprera, and no Garibaldian had entered the
Venetian provinces. But, on the strength of these inven-
tions, Austria sent large contingents of troops from
Hungary and Bohemia to our frontiers ; and La Marmora,
finding his denials were not believed, determined to justify
the assertions of Austria, and ordered the immediate
mobilisation of our army.
I was rather afraid that, with La Marmora at the head
of the government, I might have been left in command at
Turin, and not sent to the front. But once more Victor
Emanuel came to my aid and gave me the command of
the 3d corps.
Early in May the army was ready to take the field—
four army corps, twenty divisions, in all about two hundred
thousand men. Durando commanded the Ist corps, formed
of the four divisions Cerale, Pianell, Brignone and Sirtori ;
General Cucchiari commanded the 2d, formed of the divi-
sions Mignano, Cosenz, Angioletti and Longoni; the 3d
(mine) consisted of the divisions Bixio, Cugia, Cadorna
and Govone, but Cadorna’s division was shortly changed,
by the king’s desire, for that of Prince Humbert. The 4th
corps, under Cialdini, consisted of sometimes eight, some-
times ten divisions, and was called the army of the Po.
The other three corps were commanded by the king, with
La Marmora as chief of the staff, and was called the army
of the Mincio.
As soon as IJ arrived at Piacenza I called on General
Pettiti, the alter ego of La Marmora, and, of course, we
began talking about the organisation of the army. I could
not refrain from expressing my disapprobation of thus
dividing our forces into two armies, independent of each
other.
‘You are right in theory,’ replied Pettiti; ‘ but our case
is an exception. The Austrians, engaged in Bohemia,
cannot throw a large army into Italy, so either of our two
—
OUR ARMY TAKES THE FIELD 235
armies will be equal to the enemy wherever he may attack
us—on the Mincio or on the Po.’ ‘ Very well,’ said 1; ‘but
remember the old proverb, “ Union is strength.” It seems
to me the best tactics would be to keep together, await an
attack, and repel it with our whole force.’
We parted mutually unconvinced, but I felt certain of
the inevitable consequences of so fatal an error.
Hither just before, or immediately after, my visit to Pettiti,
the king came to Piacenza to review my troops and to ask
me to take the 16th division, commanded by Prince Hum-
bert, into my corps. Cialdini, to whose corps the 16th had
been destined, absolutely refused to have a royal prince
under his orders, alleging that his presence was prejudicial
to the liberty of action of the commander. I was far too
devoted to. Victor Emanuel to refuse, and knowing that
Prince’ Humbert was brave like his father, and eager to
show himself obedient to military discipline, I welcomed
him heartily, and trusted that the good star of the House
of Savoy might preserve him from any mishap.
During his sojourn at Piacenza the king asked me if all
essential preparations for the campaign were made, and
whether all would be ready in a few days. ‘Not at all,’ I
answered. ‘We are no longer in the good old days of Fanti,
when eight or ten divisions could be placed under arms in
a week, thoroughly equipped.’ ‘Oh!’ said the king, ‘ that
is just what Cialdini said yesterday at Bologna. He said
it was all the fault of Pettinengo.’ ‘The evil existed before
he became a minister,’ I replied, ‘and he has not yet had
time to mend matters.’ But from that day I felt sure that
Pettinengo would be made the scapegoat for the mistakes
of others. I well remember the king saying to me during
that visit, with all his old kindliness, that he already felt
the want of my services as chief of the staff, and added that
he would have a cipher sent, as he desired to correspond
directly with me, and have my candid opinion on every-
236 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
thing. His secretary, Castiglione, sent me not one, but two,
ciphers ; but I only made use of them once, for after 1864
politics, z¢, the ministers, always stood between Victor
Emanuel and myself.
After reviewing and superintending the instruction of
the recruits at Piacenza during incessant and heavy rain
I had anacute return of my old pain in the shoulder,
and told the military doctor, Cerale, to bleed me. The
doctor was horrified, and protested that he could not, and
would not, obey me. ‘Doctor,’ I said, ‘you are a major, I
ama general. The advantage of being a superior is pre-
cisely that one can command; therefore, get to work at
once.’ ‘But, general, I have not got my instruments.’ ‘Go
and get them, and make haste.’ Cerale went most unwill-
ingly, and returned in an hour with all that was necessary.
He visited me again in the evening, and found me much
better ; but being still in pain, I made him take off the
bandages and let more blood. I slept well, and, though
weak and pale, after two days’ convalescence rode to Cre-
mona to preside over the council for the national defence.
On my return Signor Petruccelli della Gattina, corre-
spondent of the Journal des Débats, called upon me with a
letter from my friend General Trochu. I received him
coldly, and had it not been for this letter, probably should
not have received him at all. In time of war I have little
sympathy with these gentlemen, who, for the sake of send-
ing a few columns of news to their papers, are capable of
altering truth in a most dangerous manner.!
1 The following are a few extracts of Sig. P. della Gattina’s article, pub-
lished in the Journal des Débats on the 6th June 1866 :—
‘J’ai dit que le Général Della Rocca commandait le 3.me Corps d’Armée,
J’éprouve un certain embarras 4 parler du Marquis Morozzo Della Rocca, qui
m’avouait tantét que s'il était Chef d’Etat Major général il empécherait la
presse de s’entretenir de la guerre. Je ne veux donc pas effaroucher le silence
que ce Général désire faire autour de sa personne, et je me borne a rappeler ses
états de service, du reste fort éloquents. ...
A NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENT = 237
Late in April and during May the Emperor Napoleon
opened negotiations for convening a congress, with a
view to prevent the war between Prussia and Austria,
and also to obtain the cession of Venice to Italy against
a large monetary compensation. But his attempt failed,
the congress did not meet, and the campaign was retarded.
I therefore wrote to my wife, who was determined to
return to Piedmont, to come and join me at Piacenza,
where I expected to be for another fortnight. She left
London the end of May with our two daughters, and on
the 2d June arrived in Piacenza, where I was able to
lodge them comfortably, and show them various military
evolutions, which pleased the girls. It was reported that
Count Arese was going on a mission to Paris to secure
the neutrality of France, and we officers feared that some
diplomatic arrangement would give Venice to Italy with-
out the chance of striking a blow, on condition that she
‘Della Rocca fit la campagne de 1848 comme Chef d’Etat Major de la
Division de réserve, commandée par le Duc de Savoie d’alors, aujourd’hui
Roi d’Italie. Cette Division prit une part brillante 4 la campagne, surtout a
Santa Lucia, ou elle couvrit la retraite et sauva l’Armée piemontaise, en sou-
tenant pendant une demie journée le choc de l’armée de Radetzky, Elle con-
tribua aussi 4 la défense de Custoza, ot la défaite fut aussi glorieuse que la
victoire.
‘Della Rocca fit la campagne de 1849 comme Général de Brigade, ayant sous
ses ordres les Colonels Mollard, aujourd’hui Général dans l’Armée frangaise,
et Cialdini, qui prise-4 un haut degré la capacité militaire, le coup d’oeil, la
science, l’audace, au besoin, de son ancien Général. Dans la campagne de
1859 Della Rocca fut ce que La Marmora est aujourd’hui, Chef d’Etat Major
de Armée. Dans la campagne de 1860-61, il commanda le 5.me Corps
d’Armée avec lequel il assiegea Ancéne du cédté droit, et prit ensuit en trois
jours la place de Capoue. Aprés de si¢ge d’Ancéne, Della Rocca fut nommé
Général d’Armée ; aprés celui de Capoue, il obtint la medaille d’or de la valeur
militaire. En 1859, le Roi lui avait donné l’ordre de l’Annonciade, qui est la
Toison d’Or et la Jarretiére de la dynastie de Savoie, et il obtint le lendemain
matin le Grand Cordon de la Légion d’Honneur, Della Rocca a rempli plus-
ieurs missions 4 l’étranger, et il est Sénateur.
‘Sa figure peu expansive, ses maniéres aristocratiques, son maintien tout
anglais, sa modestie qui le rend peu comunicatif, font du Général Della Rocca
un homme peu populaire, mais sa capacité et son experience ne sont mises en
doute par personne. . . .’
238 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
retired from the Prussian alliance. In fact, the Emperor
Napoleon, who always wished us well, had started the
idea of a congress with this very object, but owing to the
absurd pretentions of Austria it. fell through. She de-
manded that the Italian, representatives were not to men-
tion Venice, and the Prussians were not to speak of the —
Northern Duchies. So France withdrew, and King
William, who until then had turned a deaf ear to the
warlike councils of Bismarck, suddenly resolved to vindi-
cate his rights to Holstein, acquired by the Treaty of
Gastein. On June 16th Prussia invaded the Duchies.
I had already received orders on the 9th to move towards
Chiesi, and on the 1oth my troops started for Asola.
Next day I spent at Cremona, where La Marmora pre-
sided at a council of war, to arrange the march towards
the Mincio, and decide whether or no Cremona should be
left armed. The heads of the bridges were already
fortified, and it was determined to leave them so in case
a retreat upon that town should be necessary.
What a miserable campaign it was. Not only for
what the public knew and saw, but for all that was going
on under the surface, and which only came to light on
_ the eve of our departure. Prussia, as I have said, declared
war on the 16th. Our government at Florence was at
that time in the throes of a ministerial crisis, owing to the
sudden departure of the president of the Council to join
the army. At that moment a note reached Florence from
the Prussian government, who, after trying in vain, through
its agents, to combine a plan of campaign with the
Italian government, suddenly proposed one which de-
prived our army of every liberty of action, and used it
almost entirely to the benefit of Prussia. The note was
sent first to La Marmora, who deemed it offensive and
unacceptable, and having sent in his resignation, paid no
further attention to the matter. Usedom, the Prussian
- Ss Sl ae
A PRUSSIAN NOTE UNANSWERED 239
minister at Florence, was charged to present another
copy, which fell into the hands of the king. A reply at
that moment was impossible, owing to there being no
ministry extant; so the king named Jacini provisionally
Minister of Foreign Affairs until the arrival of Visconti-
Venosta, then our ambassador at Constantinople. <A
third copy was sent to Jacini, which, like all telegrams
sent to Florence during those days of confusion, remained
unanswered. Even La Marmora, in his headquarters, did
not succeed in obtaining any reply from the capital. On
the 19th June he telegraphed to Jacini, ‘Si je ne recois
pas ordre contraire du Roi demain j’enverrai la déclara-
tion de guerre 4a Mantoue. The king himself telegraphed
back immediately, ‘Send declaration of war to Austria.
—VICTOR EMANUEL.’
At six in the morning of the 20th June Colonel
Bariola, assistant chief of the staff, sent a letter to the
officer in command at Mantua, addressed to the Archduke
Albert, commander-in-chief of the Austrian army in the
Venetian provinces, to notify the declaration of war from
Victor Emanuel to the Emperor of Austria. The same
day I received orders to advance on Gazzoldo from Asola.
The so-called army of the Mincio was well found and
ready, and we supposed Cialdini to be in the same con-
dition. We knew that the volunteers under Garibaldi
were two or three times more numerous than had been
expected, which, however embarrassing to the minister of
war, who had to find provisions and arms, yet augured
well, and the dash and enthusiasm of all those young
fellows gave hopes of glorious deeds being accomplished.
My own troops had shown satisfactory proofs of disci-
pline and ardour. I forgot the bad impressions and
presentiments, and hoped that our arms would be
victorious.
On the morning of the 23d I left Gazzoldo for the
240 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF.A VETERAN
left bank of the Mincio. The Ist and 3d army corps
(General Durando’s and mine) had orders to cross the
river, while the 2d army corps (Cucchiari’s) was to keep
watch on Mantua, and form a reserve for the other two.
His right was to extend from Goito to Curtalone, his left
from Goito to Roverbella and Marmirolo.
On the 22d June the king and La Marmora came
from Canneto to Gazzoldo to consult with me about the
passage of the Mincio. They were then convinced, owing
to erroneous information, that the Austrians, about eighty
thousand strong, were concentrated beyond the Adige
round Verona, and that the Quadrilateral was free. So
we were sent to take up positions on the heights to the
north, between Pastrengo and Villafranca. At eight in the
morning of the 23d the divisions of the Ist army corps
crossed the Mincio—Cerale by the bridge of Mozambano,
Sirtori by that of Borghetto, Brignone at Molino di Volta,
while Pianell remained to the right in observation before
Peschiera. Three of my divisions—Bixio, Prince Humbert,
and Govone—crossed by the bridge of Goito; the 4th,
Cugia, by a military bridge at Ferri. The division of the
cavalry, commanded by General De Sonnaz, under the
immediate orders of the chief headquarters, had crossed
the bridge of Goito before us.
After taking leave of the king I remember stopping
on the bridge to inform La Marmora of certain orders I
had issued to my generals; for instance, to Bixio to place
his column on the right flank, ready to oppose any attack
which might be made from Mantua. La Marmora
shrugged his shoulders, and answered, ‘Oh no, it is quite
useless; you had better cancel that order.” I had not
time to do so, for Bixio had only gone a few steps when
a small detachment of Austrians were seen on his right
flank. As these might have been followed by others I
held to my own arrangement.
CROSSING THE MINCIO | 241
Owing to various circumstances we were later than we
had planned. Crossing the Mincio took several hours,
and night overtook us in the neighbourhood of Goito.
The troops bivouacked in the open, and I and my staff
slept in a cottage hard by. 7
CHAPTER XXIII
THE DAY OF CUSTOZA
Defective Reconnaissance—Prince Humbert under Fire—I search in vain for
the Commander-in-Chief—I am ordered to hold Villafranca—Our
Retreat towards Goito—La Marmora throws up His Command—Our
Fatal Mistakes.
MucH has been said and written about Custoza. My
account is taken from my notes, and touches chiefly on
the events in which I took part. Unfortunately, I did not
set down the exact hours at which various engagements
were fought ; had I done so it might have served to correct
many erroneous statements,
At dawn, on the 24th June, I was on foot to see my
divisions start. The sleep of the men had been disturbed
by high wind and showers of rain, which, however, cooled
the stifling atmosphere for a few hours. Towards noon
the heat was as bad as ever. The march had already
begun, the division of Prince Humbert, taking the Rover-
bella road to the right, in the direction of Villafranca; in
the centre, Bixio, with his division, was to occupy the ©
Ganfardine, not far from Villafranca, on the road to.
Sommacompagna; while Govone’s division, in the rear,.
formed the reserve on the Massimbona road, which led
to Pozzo Moretta. The division of General Cugia, which
had crossed the Mincio by the military bridge, marched
242
~ 2 ae
DEFECTIVE RECONNAISSANCE 243
towards Rosegaferro, to join at the foot of the hills with
Bixio’s division on one side, and the right wing of the Ist
army corps (Brignone) on the other. The brigade Pra-
lormo, consisting of the light cavalry of Saluzzo and the
lancers of Foggia, followed Bixio. The Alessandria light
cavalry were distributed among the various divisions, and
part of them were attached to my headquarters.
The division of cavalry, commanded by General de
Sonnaz, and under the orders of the commander-in-chief,
had been the first to cross the bridge on the 23d. Charged
with reconnoitring in the Quadrilateral, they did not go
beyond Villafranca, and on the strength of this the
general assured the commander-in-chief that there were
no Austrians in the Quadrilateral. This report, which,
unfortunately, agreed with news received by the intelli-
gence department, persuaded La Marmora that he could,
with impunity, send two army corps to take up positions
on the hills between Salionze, Valeggio and Sommacam-
pagna on the opposite side of the Mincio. The order
of the day, communicated to me, said simply, ‘Your
Excellency will advance to-morrow morning before four,
taking all due precautions, with your four divisions, and
place them as you think best between Villafranca and
Sommacampagna. On your right you will join with the
2d army corps at Roverbella and Marmirolo by means of
the cavalry of the aforesaid 2d corps. The Ist army
corps will extend by Sona and S. Giustina towards
Pastrengo, with its headquarters at Castelnuovo. The
commander of the 3d corps will inform the chief head-
quarters as soon as he can of the place he has selected for
the headquarters of the 3d corps. As I. rode with my
staff we heard the roar of cannon, and putting our horses
to a sharp trot, we arrived just as the Austrian cavalry had
made its first charge against the Parma brigade. This is
what had occurred.
244 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF_A VETERAN
The divisions of Bixio and Prince Humbert were
advancing by two nearly parallel roads—the 16th towards
Villafranca, the 7th towards the Ganfardine—when they
were informed that detachments of Austrian cavalry,
followed by artillery,, were scouring the country round
Villafranca. Both commanders sent out staff officers to
obtain news, and the prince was assured that, though a
few scouts were to be seen in the direction of Calori,
Villafranca was entirely free. He entered the town,
followed by the Parma brigade, and marched through it as
far as the farm of S. Giovanni. There he halted, cover-
ing the front and flanks of the brigade with battalions of
Bersaglieri, while he sent back to order the mixed brigade
to hurry up to his aid.
While getting the Parma brigade into line a large
body of cavalry was seen in the distance—squadrons of the
Emperor’s Hussars and of the Trani Uhlans, with a battery
of horse artillery. One squadron came up at a gallop to
within five hundred paces, but some shells and canister
from the cannon stationed in the road, and the hot fire
of the Bersaglieri put them to flight. This must have
been about a quarter to seven. At that moment the head
of the column of Bixio’s division came up, and he im-
mediately sent his advanced guard to join the 16th division
and cover Villafranca on the side of Sommacampagna,
whence the squadrons of Colonel Pulz were advancing.
After a short struggle the latter launched his men against
the troops of Prince Humbert, upon which the commander
of the Parma brigade, General Ferrero, immediately ordered
the battalions to form squares to resist cavalry. Suddenly,
from a dense covert, emerged Hussars and Uhlans, who
charged at full gallop. The prince, followed by some of
his officers, had ridden forward to make sure of the flight
of the first squadron, and was still on the road, separated by
a wide ditch from where the battalions of the Parma brigade
PRINCE HUMBERT UNDER FIRE 245
were forming squares. He had barely time to jump the
ditch and put himself, with his staff and Ferrero, in the
centre of the first square in order to oppose the charge of
the Austrian cavalry. The latter were soon thrown into
confusion by the fire from the squares, and the furious
attacks of the Alessandria light cavalry. The Uhlans
turned and fled. Some fell into the deep ditch skirting
the Verona road, others were killed by the fire of our
infantry and artillery, and many were made prisoners. It
was said that out of six hundred hardly two hundred
answered the roll-call. The heir to the throne received his
baptism of fire bravely, showing that he inherited the
valour of his race. In that first encounter he manifested
all the qualities of a good soldier—dash and ardour in the
first instance, coolness and firmness during action.
I arrived at Villafranca as the first attack ended, and
at once sent the squadron of light cavalry of Alessandria,
which formed the escort at my headquarters, to the
prince.
The day had begun favourably for the 3d corps, but
badly for the Ist. How incorrect was the information
given to the chief headquarters as to the movements of
the enemy may be gathered by what happened to the
7th and the 16th divisions. During the day and night
of the 23d the Austrians had occupied the heights, which
» were the very objects of our advance, and the divisions
of Durando’s corps had suddenly come face to face with
theenemy. The advance guard of the 5th division (Sirtori)
missed their way, and instead of taking the country
road of S. Rocco and Palazzuolo, took the high road to
Castelnuovo, thus outstripping the Ist division (Cerale),
of which they became the advanced guard. The Ist
division thus being uncovered, came upon the enemy, and
were unable to execute their formation without confusion.
On the other hand, the left wing of this division came
246 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
unexpectedly upon the Austrians a mile from Oliosi,
and was forced into an engagement, and routed before
the other divisions were able to render assistance,
General Cerale was warned of the presence of the |
enemy after he had started; but, unaware of the mistakes
already committed, he determined to carry out his orders,
and advanced towards Castelnuovo. Seeing the heights
facing Salionze occupied, he ordered the Pisa brigade to
attack, when the commander, General Villarey, was killed.
Cerale was himself severely wounded, and the division,
overpowered by the ever-increasing numbers of the
enemy, retreated in confusion upon Monzambano.
The Forli brigade, which had advanced as far as Oliosi,
was attacked by a strong force of Uhlans and infantry, and
driven back to Valeggio.
The 3d brigade (Brignone), which formed the extreme
right of the Ist corps, had advanced to within a short
distance of my troops, on the tableland of Gherla, a
central point between the plain and the hills. There they
met La Marmora. He always rode out in the early morn-
ing, and had unexpectedly found himself, with only one
aide-de-camp, on, the field of battle. Ignorant of the
enemy’s position, he ordered Brignone to attack the heights,
which he found already occupied by the enemy. Both
parties were surprised, and a fierce struggle ensued at
Monte Torre. Brignone commanded the Lombard and
the Sardinian Grenadiers;. the latter, led by Prince
Amadeus, repulsed the Austrians several times; but
while they received continuous reinforcements our numbers
diminished, owing to the many killed and wounded—
among the latter the prince. These bad tidings were
brought to me bit by bit by the various officers I had
despatched to glean information; so I gathered that I
had better establish my headquarters provisionally at Villa-
franca, whence I could prevent the enemy’s advance upon
SEARCH FOR THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 247
Valeggio, and send help where needed to the troops engaged
near by. In obedience to orders, I sent one of my officers
to Valleggio, where I supposed the army headquarters to
be,to give information of the engagement of the 7th and
1oth divisions, and of the place where I had established
myself. He returned in about two hours, with his horse
quite knocked up. Having found no one at Valeggio,
he proceeded to Cerlungo, where nearly all the officers of
the army headquarters still were; but La Marmora had
not been seen since daybreak, when he rode off, without
leaving any orders, while the king had mounted his
horse at the first cannon shot, and no one knew where
he or La Marmora had gone to. My aide-de-camp then
went to Goito, with the same result. Unable to obtain
any information of the movements of either the king or
La Marmora, he galloped back to Villafranca. During
the whole of the 24th June the headquarters of the
commander-in-chief were non-existent.
I sent aides-de-camp in various directions to search for
the king and La Marmora, and seeing that the divisions
Bixio and Prince Humbert maintained their positions on
the Sommacampagna and Povegliano roads, and that for
the moment the Austrian cavalry and artillery had with-
drawn, I went to congratulate the prince on his success-
ful conduct, and then rode on to find General Bixio, and
tell him that, after searching in vain for the commander-
in-chief, I considered it advisable to wait for fresh orders
before advancing towards Sommacampagna. I also
informed him that a struggle was going on at Monte
Torre, in which the left of the Ist corps was engaged,
and we-arranged a diversion to endeavour to take the
enemy on the flank or the rear, and liberate Brignone.
We settled, however, that he should wait for a positive
order from General La Marmora or from me, and mean-
while retain his positions, which formed the extreme right.
248 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
of the long line of the 1st and 3d army corps, extending
from Peschiera to Villafranca.
In the meantime, I sent two squadrons of the Saluzzo
light cavalry and two of the Foggia Lancers to the 7th
division, and ordered Cugia to join them, and extend his
division towards Pozzo Moretta. He was slightly checked,
and the division Govone was terribly retarded by the
civil and military transport which encumbered the roads.
As soon as I knew that Govone had arrived at Quaderni,
I ordered him to advance with the Alpine brigade towards
the foot of the hills, to unite with Cugia’s division, and to
send the Pistoza brigade to Villafranca in reserve.
I had just given these orders when General La Mar-
mora arrived from Monte Torre between eight and nine
o'clock. He had heard firing at Villafranca, and came to
see what had happened, and at the same time to tell me
to send help to the 3d division of the Ist corps. He was
in a state of great anxiety, impressed by the imminent
danger, and also by having just discovered that his
sight had deteriorated so much that he was unable, even
with field-glasses, to judge either of the number or the
distance of the enemy’s forces. He approved of the choice
of Villafranca, and ordered me to hold the position at all
hazards, and at the same time to send what help I could
to Monte Torre. On leaving, La Marmora again bade me
not abandon Villafranca until the plain on that side should
be clear of the baggage waggons and military train. I did
not see him all day, and had no orders from him after
II a.m. until 6 p.m., when the retreat across the Mincio
was commanded.
La Marmora had hardly left when the king arrived,
also extremely anxious, having just seen Brignone’s troops
repulsed—almost put to flight—at Monte Torre. I do not
remember his first words, but I know I could not restrain
my indignation at the ignorance of the staff concerning
I AM ORDERED TO HOLD VILLAFRANCA 249
the positions of the enemy. Trusting to false information
that the Austrians were on the other side of the Adige,
when they were in the Quadrilateral, they had thrown
our army into the clutches of the enemy. I also alluded
to the inexpedience of the long line extending from
Peschiera to Villafranca, and to the lack of an army head-
quarters. I related how my aide-de-camp had in vain
gone from Valeggio to Cerlungo, and then across the
Mincio to Goito, without being able to report the events
of the morning, receive new orders, or make known where
I had taken up my position. My words were bitter ; but
the king knew I did not cast the responsibility of these
errors on him, and he told me how he had been assured
that the enemy were on the other side of the Adige, and
how perplexed he had been at finding that the chief of the
staff had left Cerlungo at dawn without having arranged
any plan of attack with him, or confirmed the proposed
transfer of the army headquarters from Cerlungo to
Valeggio. I told His Majesty of the orders left by La
Marmora, and he confirmed them, bidding me hold the
positions until I received other orders from him or from
his chief of the staff. He then left for Valeggio, where
he expected to find La Marmora and the two divisions of
the 2d corps (Cucchiari), which were to arrive there before
noon. After the departure of the king an officer of
General Bixio’s staff came to ask me if the general could
continue his march towards Sommacampagna or, at any-
rate, towards the Ganfardine, whence the light cavalry
of the brigades Pulz and Bujanowich were constantly
attacking us. I was obliged to refuse his request, and
told him of the commands left by General La Marmora
and the king—that the 7th and 16th divisions were to
keep on the defensive and hold their positions until further
orders. After 11 arm. General La Marmora sent me a
few words by a light cavalry soldier from Monte Torre,
230 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF. A VETERAN
where he found that the Lombard Grenadiers had re-
treated, and part of the Grenadiers of Sardinia had given
way on hearing that their commander, Prince Amadeus,
was wounded. Only one half stood firm, and heroic-
ally contested every inch of ground. La Marmora informed
me that he had ordered General Cugia to go with his
whole division to Monte Torre and Monte Croce, and
General Govone to occupy Custoza and Belvedere with
his artillery and the Alpine brigade. He again impressed
upon me the necessity of holding the positions at Villa-
franca, and asked me to send what aid I could to Govone
at Custoza, and by word of mouth he placed two regiments
of cavalry at my disposal. Soon afterwards I heard that
Cucchiari’s troops, which ought to have arrived at Valeggio
before noon, were not even in sight. As I had sent every
man I could spare without dangerously diminishing my
own forces, I wrote to the commander of the 19th, General
Longoni, who I supposed had been at Roverbella for some
time, to tell him of the straits Govone and Cugia were in,
and ask him to advance on Custoza, preceded by his artillery.
I calculated the artillery ought to arrive at Custoza before
4 p.m. and that Govone would be able to hold out until
then. The disastrous news that the Ist corps had crossed
to the right bank of the Mincio had just reached me,
and confirmed my determination to await formal orders
before moving from my positions.
About half-past three Govone sent word that all the
positions had been retaken from the enemy, whose guns
had not replied during the past hour. But he feared
another attack, and his ammunition was exhausted. So
I sent orders to Cugia to divide his ammunition with
him, which was done. Shortly afterwards Cugia informed
me that an ever-increasing number of Austrians were ©
gathering in front of him on the heights of Beretara, and
more troops were pouring out of Verona. His men
OUR RETREAT TOWARDS GOITO 251
were so tired that he feared they could not stand against
these fresh troops, and he asked leave to retreat. I also
learned that Belvedere had been strongly attacked, and
that Govone’s troops were beginning to give way. To
both generals I sent orders to retreat on Villafranca.
When the order reached the 9th division it had already
fallen back on Valeggio. The 8th descended into Villa-
franca, leaving the 52d regiment behind, still defending
itself furiously. It ultimately reached Valeggio, where it
remained till the morning of the 25th.
Hardly had I sent the orders to retreat to the 8th and
gth divisions when Colonel Avogadro arrived from Goito
with a message from La Marmora. Repeating his in-
junctions to hold my positions, he asked for information
as to what was happening on the heights, and placed, two
other regiments of cavalry at my disposal, in case a general
retreat became necessary. I charged Avogadro to tell
La Marmora that I considered a general retreat unavoid-
able, because the 8th and oth were retiring, while Longoni’s
division had never arrived, and the vicinity of Villafranca
was still encumbered with baggage waggons. The case
would have been very different if the 18th and 19th had
come up in time. Avogadro had passed my aide-de-camp,
with his horse dead lame, and brought me a message from
him that the artillery of the 19th must already be on its
way, as General Longoni had promised to despatch it
immediately. It only arrived when the troops were pre-
paring for the general retreat, and was sent straight
back to Roverbella. Soon after Avogadro left I received
the order from La Marmora to retreat, with the whole
army corps, across the Mincio, sending on first all the
military and civil train.
For two hours the long line of waggons was defiling in
the direction of Goito, and it was dusk before the 16th
division took its place in the rear. To Bixio I entrusted
252 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
the protection of the retreat, during which the rearguard
was several times hotly attacked by the Austrian cavalry.
Half way I ordered my chief of the staff to establish our
headquarters at Marengo, near Goito, and with an aide-
de-camp I rode to Cerlungo to find the king and La
Marmora, and obtain orders for the morrow. I started
about half-past eight, hoping to arrive by ten, and to find
them still up. But I became entangled in the confusion
of the transport waggons, had to ride in the bottom of
the ditches, and wait a long time before I could cross
the bridge. It was one o’clock in the morning before I
reached the army headquarters, and I found that the king
and the chief of the staff had retired to their rooms, which
were near each other. The king received me immediately,
and said La Marmora insisted on resigning his post as
chief of the staff, and wished me to assume it at once. But
I pointed out that, in the present condition of affairs, I
could not be of any service. The division of the army,
and all the arrangements which could not be changed
without turning everything upside down, would have
paralysed my initiative. I could not eliminate La Mar-
mora or deprive Cialdini of his command ; it was therefore
absolutely necessary that La Marmora should remain and
carry out his plans. These and other arguments I used
to the king, and begged him to let me try and persuade La
Marmora to remain at his post. I found Alphonse walking
up and down his room, half undressed, giving vent to his
grief by broken words and gestures. Forgetting the past,
I took his hand, drew him towards me, and embraced
him. I tried to console him, but was so much moved I
could hardly speak. I strove to persuade him that his
plain duty at such a moment was to stand by the king,
unite our forces, and take an immediate revenge, which
would allow us to continue the campaign and attain what
all desired. It was in vain; he refused to listen. Tossing
LA MARMORA THROWS UP COMMAND 253
his long, hairy arms about, he vehemently rejected every
proposal as to keeping the command. At one moment he
took up a revolver from the table and said, ‘ Rather than
retain the command under such conditions, I will blow out
my brains.’ Then he sat down, with his head between his
hands, and reiterated all he had told me that morning—
the pain and humiliation when he found he could no
longer see; that the battalions of the enemy and their
movements had been pointed out to him in vain; every-
thing was indistinct. Sadly he repeated, ‘ All is over with
me; I am no longer fit to command.’
I went back to the king to announce my failure. ‘I
am not surprised, said Victor Emanuel; ‘he said
almost the same things to me, and he is determined to
resign. He wants me to call Cialdini, but I feel that
would be falling from the frying-pan into the fire’ ‘If
Your Majesty will take my advice,’ I replied, ‘you will
make Bixio your chief of the staff’ ‘Oh!’ exclaimed the
king, with a start,‘ you are mad! Bixio is very young,
and the junior general. Who would obey him?’ ‘I
would. Bonaparte was a general at twenty-seven,’ I
answered; ‘and, believe me, Bixio is a great general.’
‘That may be, but with Cialdini and the others... we
should raise a hornets’ nest. We must take some decision,’
continued the king, thoughtfully. ‘Then take Cialdini, Your
Majesty. He is very popular at this moment, and all will
go well if he accepts.’ ‘Well, said the king, ‘to-morrow
we shall know what he has accomplished.’ ‘If he is ready,’
I said, ‘we might recommence without loss of time. In
twenty-four hours my corps can be in fighting order.
Cucchiari’s has done nothing, and Durando can re-
constitute his immediately. ‘Yes; but first I must see
Cialdini in private, and the king inquired where he could
find the general, as he would take my brother Frederick
and meet him in some isolated cottage. His Majesty
254 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
dismissed me, saying, ‘I shall come and see you soon.’ I
went back to La Marmora, and again begged him not to
abandon the king. He was calmer, and held out his
hand, which I took warmly; I do not think I should have
done so had I known of the disastrous telegrams which he
had sent to the capital at half-past ten that night, and
which struck the whole country dumb with grief next
morning. (See note, p. 259.)
As may be gathered from the above description, the
battle of Custoza took us by surprise. The want of foresight
of the chief of the staff, then practically commander-in-
chief of the army,' is, and probably always will be, in-
explicable. The man who sent the declaration of war
ought to have had a matured plan ready, and the com-
mander of each corps should have been in possession of
the minutest details. Instead of which, the crossing of
the Mincio was treated as though it had been a simple
change of quarters, and the instructions given to the com-
manders of the different corps contained no hint of any
plan of battle. The army headquarters trusted blindly
in insufficient and false information, and the orders given
on the 23d to the general commanding the cavalry
division were so indefinite and insufficient that he did not
push his reconnaissance in the Quadrilateral beyond Villa-
franca, whereas he ought to have reconnoitred the posi-
tions of S. Massimo, Croce Bianco and Santa Lucia on
the right bank of the river. Having stopped at Villa-
franca, he declared there was no enemy in the Quadri-
lateral, save a few scouts. This coincided with the infor-
mation of the Intelligence Department, whereupon the
chief of the staff took it for granted that the whole Austrian
1 The ministry had submitted to the king for signature a decree naming
La Marmora generalissimo of the army, as Czarnowsky had been in 1849.
But Victor Emanuel refused to sign it, and substituted chief of the staff for
generalissimo. La Marmora, however, very likely without intending it, thanks
to his domineering nature, really exercised the functions of generalissimo.
OUR FATAL MISTAKES 256
army was concentrated behind the Adige, and that it was
for us to drive them out on the 25th. General Durando,
commanding the Ist corps, had received, or, at anyrate,
had given, orders to his subordinates on the morning of
the 24th to occupy the positions between Castelnuovo and
Valeggio—the very positions which had been occupied
during the previous evening by the Austrians, who atacked
the divisions Sirtori and Cerale early on the 24th.
The primary, if not the most fatal, error of the chief
of the staff lay in thus acting without exact information.
Occupied in directing the politics of the government,
which detained him in Florence far from the army until
the last moment, he ought never to have assumed the
responsibility of the command at the king’s side. The
political services rendered by him during the campaign
‘were, he writes, ‘of far greater importance than a victory
on the plains of Custoza.” They would have been more
efficacious had he remained at his post as president of the
Council; he would then have been able to correct the
erroneous opinions of the other ministers, who misunder-
stood or misinterpreted the conditions of the Treaty of
Alliance with Prussia, and advanced pretensions which
might have compromised not only the fate of Venice but
of all Italy.
I have said that acting on insufficient information was
the principal, if not the fatal, error which led to the dis-
aster of Custoza. The first mistake was the division of
the army into two independent parts. ‘Cialdini, command-
ing the so-called army of the Po, received no orders—
only suggestions, from the chief of the staff—suggestions
to which, on two separate occasions, at least, he replied,
‘I cannot come; I am not ready.’ As a fact, on the 24th
he was not ready to cross the Po, but he might have been
on the 25th or 26th. The chief of the staff ought to have
1 See Lettera al Massari, 19th August 1866, in Ricordi Biografict, p. 369.
250 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF- A VETERAN
been informed of this; the army of the king would then
probably have either only threatened the Austrians from
the opposite bank of the Mincio, or have crossed in force
at Borghetto, and taken up a strong position at and
around Valeggio to attract the notice of the enemy, and
thus facilitate Cialdini’s passage of the Po. Then Arch-
duke Albert would not have been able to try and outflank
us from Goito or from Mantua. We should have menaced
his flank, and his communication with Verona might have
been broken. He would have been forced to retire by the
Tyrol or accept battle between two fires.
Had the army been kept together, our great superiority
of numbers must have given us the victory. An encounter
with the enemy was so little expected on the 24th at head-
quarters that, although the troops had crossed to the left
bank of the Mincio, the headquarters remained on the
right at Cerlungo, instead of moving to Valeggio, the
central position of the line from Castelnuovo to Villa-
franca, so that the commander-in-chief had no headquarters
during the whole course of the battle. Another grave
mistake was allowing all the transport, ammunition and
commissariat waggons to follow immediately behind the
army, encumbering all the roads, causing endless con-
fusion in the plain of Villafranca, and preventing rein-
forcements to arrive in time. It also greatly retarded
the retreat of the 3d corps, and exposed the army to the
danger of being attacked on the flank or the rear.
CHAPTER XXIV
1866 (THIRD PART)
Disastrous Telegrams—Cialdini takes Command of 150,000 Men—I Command
a Reconnaissance in Force—It is Countermanded—General Austrian
Retreat after Sadowa—Prussia Signs Preliminaries of Peace without
consulting Italy—Prince Jerome Napoleon—La Marmora compelled to
ask for an Armistice—We are threatened by France and Prussia—La
Marmora sacrifices his Popularity.
AFTER leaving Victor Emanuel and La Marmora at Cer-
lungo, I rode to Goito in the hopes of finding my troops.
But although the night was far advanced, few had been
able to cross the bridges, and others were detained by the
confusion of the waggons on the road. I succeeded, how-
ever, in getting through, and entered the first house in
Goito I found open. In a big room on the ground floor
were several officers asleep on straw, and on a mattress,
with a rug thrown over him, General Cucchiari. Not to
disturb him, I lay down quietly on the straw; no one
had seen me enter, or knew I was there till I said good-
morning at dawn, when my divisions, Bixio and Prince
Humbert, arrived. After seeing them march past in
splendid order, I returned to Cerlungo, where La Marmora
had called a council of generals. We were to discuss and
decide upon our future movements and plans—whether to
retire or to summon Cialdini’s army corps from the other
side of the Po, and, with the united armies, reassume the
offensive. But, as usually happens on such occasions, no
one’s opinion was positively asked. He who had sum-
moned us stated his own opinions, which assumed the
R
258 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OFA VETERAN
form of commands, and it was resolved to retreat upon
the positions we had occupied on the 11th June—Piacenza,
Cremona and its vicinity. And yet, on the 25th, General
Pianell had been able to reorganise the Ist corps (Dur-
ando); the 2d (Cucchiari) had taken no part in the action
of the preceding day; and the 3d (my corps) was also
reorganised, and full of ‘go. We had, therefore, over
eighty thousand men and one hundred and fifty guns in
a strong position, with our right leaning on the Mincio,
and the Pass of Goito in our hands. But La Marmora,
either disheartened, or wishing to give the king and the
ministers time to arrive at some determination about the
nomination of a new chief of the staff, was about to issue
orders for the retreat. .
Although my opinion had not been asked, I could not
refrain from going to La Marmora and to the king to say
that I thought it would be most discouraging to send
the troops back to their first positions, and thus acknow-
ledge a defeat they had hardly realised. I implored that,
at all events, mine should be stationed behind the Oglio,
a strong position, whence we could soon return to the
Mincio.
For once La Marmora listened, and approved of my
idea. His first orders were maintained for the other
divisions, but mine started on the 26th for Gazzoldo and
Acquanegra towards the Oglio. Bixio was charged with
the defence of the rearguard, and did it admirably. On
the 29th my headquarters were at Piadena, where [| re-
ceived the first letters and papers I had seen since we
crossed the Mincio on the 22d. For the first time I saw
the telegrams despatched from Cerlungo to Florence on
the evening of the 24th and the morning of the 25th.!
1 The telegrams we now read in the files of the official papers of the 24th
and 25th June 1866 are different from those I saw at Piadena. The former
would hardly have caused the anger and indignation I felt. I quote a tele
-
CIALDINI COMMANDS 150000 MEN 259
I was still under the painful impression of the first
telegrams, the effect of which there had been an attempt
to mitigate, when, soon after dawn on the morning of
the 2d July, Victor Emanuel, his cigar in his mouth,
entered my tiny room at Piadena. I was up, but not
dressed, and my clothes occupied the single chair; so
the king sat on the bed and told me he had seen
Cialdini, and La Marmora had gone to Parma to meet
him. At first Cialdini absolutely refused to take the
place of La Marmora, and advised the king to make me
chief of the staff, assuring him that there would be no
friction between us. Experience had, however, taught
me that, with every good intention, my colleague could
not curb his temper, impatient of any sort of control.
Victor Emanuel knew this as well as I did, and assured
Cialdini that I had refused, and it was no use to ask
me again.
They then agreed that the whole army should be con-
centrated on the Po, and that Cialdini was to have the
command of one hundred and fifty thousand men, form-
ing an army for active operations, while the rest, nearly
gram of the 25th from the Zz/e of La Marmora, by Massari (page 351). It is
less offensive than the first (of the 24th), which is not given. I leave my
readers to judge what a disastrous impression even this one must have made on
the minds of Italians :—‘ Yesterday the Austrians attacked the army corps
Durando and Della Rocca near Valeggio and Villafranca with their whole force,
and routed them. The condition of the army is deplorable ; will be powerless
for action for some time. Five divisions—Cerale, Brignone, Sirtori, Govone,
Cugia—are disorganised. Austrians do not seem inclined to pursue for the
moment. Goito, Volta, Cavriana, Solferino are being put into a state of
defence. Our losses are very heavy, but cannot as yet be estimated. Generals
Cerale, Dho, Gozzani, Prince Amadeus, wounded ; General Villarey, killed.’
1 On the 27th June La Marmora despatched the following telegram from
Redondesco :—‘ Now that the details are known, the battle of the 24th is more
creditable to us than at first appeared. The Austrians remained masters of
part only of the battlefield, we retained the rest. Our losses were heavy, but
so were those of the enemy. Most of the troops performed prodigies of valour,
and the Austrians are certainly convinced by now that the Italian is not inferior
to the old Piedmontese army.’
260 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
fifty thousand, were to remain in observation in Venetia
and round the fortresses, under the command of the king,
with La Marmora as chief of the staff (provisionally, they
said, but he kept the post until peace was concluded).
After recounting this,.the king at length told me what
had brought him alone to me at such an hour.
The evening before news had come that the Archduke
Albert had crossed the Mincio with part of his army on
the night of the 30th June, and taken up a position to the
right near Goito. On the Ist July the king and his chief
of the staff settled to send a reconnaissance in force to
drive the enemy into the Quadrilateral, and Victor
Emanuel had come in person to bring me the good
news that I was to have the command of the expedi-
tion. I already saw myself at Goito, ready to revenge
the day of Custoza. On leaving, the king said, ‘We
have prepared everything ; make haste and start, I know
all will go well’
I made such haste that everything was ready that
evening. We started at nightfall without trumpet or
drum, the silence only broken by the tramp of. the men
and horses. The soldiers left their heavy knapsacks
behind, and only carried provisions and ammunition for
two days. We marched fast, and arrived at Redondesco,
where we halted, much sooner than we expected. All
were in high spirits; they knew or guessed that we were
going to take our revenge.
But just as we were preparing for a short rest an
officer came up at full gallop with counter-orders from
La Marmora. The affair was to be limited to a simple
reconnaissance w.th a few troops, the rest were to return
at once to Piadena. Curses were loud and deep, and I
must confess I set the example. Charging my chief of
the staff to see to the retreat on Piadena, I occupied
myself in preparing the reconnaissance, which I ordered
AUSTRIAN RETREAT AFTER SADOWA_ 261
to advance as far as the Mincio. On the advent of our
men, the Austrians, who were just dining, threw away
pots and plates, and hastened to recross the bridges,
which they barricaded.
It was the beginning of the great retreat, which they
continued, across the Tyrol, beyond the Brenta, the Piave,
the Tagliamento and the Isonzo, leaving only troops
enough to garrison the fortresses. The main body had
been summoned to replace the men who had fallen at
Sadowa. Had the counter-order of the chief of the staff
been less clear and peremptory, and deprived me of the
full powers given by Victor Emanuel on the morning of
2d July, neither the enemy’s flight nor the barricaded
bridges would have prevented me from following him
and forcing him to fight. In which case, even without
the aid of Cialdini, there is no doubt Venetia would have
been taken and occupied by force of arms.
I refrained from asking La Marmora why he sent that
unfortunate counter-order, nor did I go near the king,
whose headquarters at Piadena were close to mine-—I was
so angry that I feared I might say something I had better
have left unsaid. A year later, at Turin, I asked La Marmora,
and his reply was, ‘ You remember that I resigned after the
battle of Custoza, but consented to remain as chief of the
staff until Cialdini, designated by me as my successor,
should have seen the king. At Parma I met Cialdini
some days later, and we settled to concentrate the troops
in a counter-march on Ferrara, when he was to have taken
the command of three parts of the army, pursue the
Austrians, and force them to deliver battle in the open
before crossing the frontier. It was decided that from
that day I was to communicate every movement of the
army of the Mincio to him. His Majesty, having been
informed that part of the Austrian army were moving on
the opposite side of the Mincio towards Goito, insisted
262 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF-A VETERAN
on making an attempt on Goito before undertaking
the counter-march. He arranged everything with me,
and went straight to order you to carry out his idea.
This I knew late on the 2d, and, according to my pro-
mise, telegraphed your departure to Cialdini, and asked
him to assist you if necessary. He answered that he was
not ready to support the movement on Goito, begged me
to suspend it immediately, and detain the troops at
Piadena and Bozzolo, adding that he would advance his
corps towards Borgoforte, which might be taken on the
5th. That is why I sent you orders to return to your
encampments on the Oglio,’
Thus an operation ordered by the king, and approved
by La Marmora, was countermanded by Cialdini—another
proof of the evil of a divided command. Here I must
put on record that of the three commanders, the one who
on that occasion showed most military intuition was
Victor Emanuel, and he keenly felt and lamented over the
lost opportunity.
Before mentioning the political zzbrog/io which occurred
in July, when we not only lost valuable time, but ran the
risk of having to fight not only the Austrians, but the
French and our allies the Prussians, I must touch on the
retreat of the enemy.
The Austrian commanders evidently received news on
the 3d July of the defeat in Bohemia, accompanied by
orders to concentrate the troops and to retire upon
Vienna, renouncing the plan begun on the 30th June by
the passage of part of the troops to the right bank of the
Mincio. Orders not to accept battle must already have
been given on the 2d. Telegrams, announcing the defeat
of Sadowa, arrived on the 3d and 4th July, accompanied
by orders to send every available man to the frontier.
The evacuation began on the 5th July; twenty thousand
men were left in Venice, but Verona, Mantua, Peschiera,
THE POLITICAL IMBROGLIO 263
Legnago and Palmanova were denuded of all the troops,
save those necessary to defend the material of war,
The archduke, with the greater part of his troops, retired
during the 6th and 8th behind the Adige, leaving only one
corps to cover his retreat, which had orders to make use
of the railway, and from the Tyrol go straight to the
Danube. We ought to have seized that moment to pursue
the retreating army, take the fortresses, and carry out, in
part, the plan sketched by Prussia in that famous note of
17th June, which so offended La Marmora, and which
suggested our taking possession of Venetia and opening
the road towards the Danube. We were prevented from
doing this, not only by Cialdini’s hesitation on the Po, but
by the far more justifiable hesitation of the king and the
government.
Then began the political zmbroglio. Immediately after
the defeat of Sadowa, Austria had made, through the
Emperor Napoleon, the unexpected proposal to King
Victor Emanuel to cede Venice and some of the for-
tresses to Italy, with the intention, naturally, of detaching
us from the Prussian alliance, and being thus enabled to
send all her troops into Bohemia. But this proposal of
a cession and a retrocession was doubly offensive to the
national sentiment; first, the refusal of the Emperor
Francis to treat directly with our king; secondly, seeing
all chance of our long-wished for revenge escape. There
was a scream of indignation throughout the country and
the army. The unpopularity of the measure, and the
loyalty of the king, who insisted on at once acquainting
his Prussian ally with the proposal, greatly embarrassed
the government, and induced them, if not to refuse, at all
events not to accept the advice of the French Emperor °
immediately. To increase the difficulties of our position
Napoleon accused Italy of wilfully causing delay.
Several days passed in this uncertainty, during which
264 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
we consulted Prussia, who turned round and accused us of
double dealing and weakness, and then suddenly accepted
‘proposals made by Austria, and at Nikolsburg (July 21st)
signed, without the cognisance of the Italian government,
an armistice with preliminaries of peace, thus abandoning
her ally in front of the formidable army collected by
Austria against themselves.
All these circumstances called up a fourth direction of
the army, personified by the government, and representing
policy and diplomacy, which, I need not say, disagreed
with the three military chiefs already existing.
On t1oth July I had received orders to execute a
counter-march from the Oglio to Ferrara, and by way of
Casalmaggiore, where the Ist corps met us, went to Parma,
whence Ferrara could be reached in a few hours. But we
were delayed twenty-four hours by a collision on the rail-
way and the want of trucks.
While the Austrians were retiring from the Quadrilateral,
Cialdini was besieging Borgoforte. When, on the 8th July,
he crossed the Po between Carbonarola and Fellonica, the
commander-in-chief thought it a favourable moment to ~
transfer the army of the Mincio to the lower Po. Borgo-
forte was evacuted by the Austrians on the 13th July, the
last operations having been directed by General Nunziante,
Duke of Mignano, Cialdini having been called to Ferrara,
where, at a council presided over by the king, it was
decided to resume hostilities.
One army of about one hundred and fifty thousand
men, under General Cialdini, was to advance towards
Isongo and Trieste; another, of less strength, to remain
in Venetia, near the fortresses, under the king, with La
Marmora as chief of the staff. The first, composed of
fourteen divisions, forming five corps—Pianell, Pettiti,
Cadorna, Brignone, and Sonnaz—with two divisions of
cavalry, was called the active corps (corpo di spediztone).
PRINCE JEROME NAPOLEON 265
The second of six divisions, forming two corps, Della
Rocca and Cucchiari, was called the corps of observation
(corpo a osservazione).
On July 16th I left Parma for Ferrara to learn what
arrangements had been made regarding my army corps.
I went as seldom as possible to the palace, where the king
and several of the ministers were staying, but on the 19th
or 20th I was summoned, for some reason I no longer
remember, and met Prince Jerome Napoleon, sent by his
cousin, the emperor, to persuade Victor Emanuel and the
ministers to accept the conditions proposed by France, zz.,
an armistice between Italy and Austria, on the basis of the
cession of the Venetian provinces to Italy. The prince
gave me no time to salute him, but said, ‘Le roz m’a dit
guwil vous avait offert la place de La Marmora le soir méme
de la batatlle de Custoza ; puisque vous lavez st bien tenue
en 1859 pourquot ne Lavez-vous pas voulue cette fots ?’
‘Mats, monseigneur, \ replied, ‘7’avazs pour céla de tres
bonnes raisons, que Sa Mayesté a bien voulue comprendre et
accepter. ‘Ah! bah! tl devait vous y contraindre, et st
7avats été a sa place, et que vous enssiez persisté dans le
vefus, je vous aurais flangué un bon coup de pied. . . quel-
gue part. ‘Vous oubliez, monseigneur, quence cas faurars été
obligé @ajouter a mes autres méfaits celui de vous le rendre.
The prince laughed, but afterwards inveighed against the
state of affairs, and abused La Marmora, Ricasoli, Visconti-
Venosta, Cialdini, and all who were in power. He declared
that the king was compromising the existence of the
country for questions of susceptibility, which he considered
mere rhetoric.
- In Italy we reason otherwise. The questions of so-
called susceptibility Victor Emanuel regarded as the
defence of his own honesty and the honour of the
country; he therefore resolved to reply—by continuing
the war.
266 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
The intense desire of the king and of all of us officers
to see the war recommenced and carried on energetically ;
Cialdini’s activity in getting all his troops across the Adige,
and sending one division to Maghera to watch the lagoon,
another to the Val Sugana to help Garibaldi, and Cadorna’s
corps on a forced march towards Trieste; so well
carried out that he would infallibly have reached his
destination in five or six days, was all frustrated by the
disaster of Lissa. That necessitated a suspension of arms
on the 26th, and rendered orders and plans of battle use-
less. It was written that Venice was not to be ours by
force of arms.
From Ferrara I was sent to Este, and later to Vicenza.
With me was only one division (the 16th, Prince Humbert’s),
but the other two were to join me. I had been given no
special orders, and, according to my wont, my first care was
to be well informed as to the movements of the enemy. I
learned that from Roverado he intended to try and surprise
Medici, who was in the Val Sugana on his way to the
Tyrol, by attacking him on his left flank and rear. I
warned him, and sent several battalions of Bersaglieri with
artillery, under Major-General Ferreri, whose expedition
was, however, paralysed by the suspension of hostilities.
I then received orders to go to Vicenza.
La Marmora was compelled to ask for an armistice
by the force of circumstances. Prussia had signed pre-
liminaries of peace with Austria, guaranteeing the integrity
of the Austrian empire, with the exception of the Venetian
provinces, without warning or consulting her ally. The
moment -the armistice was signed, Austria reconstituted
her southern army, and the Archduke Albert turned his
steps again towards Italy, with an army three times more
numerous than his former one. His divisions advanced
towards Isongo and the Tyrol. The Italian government—
that is Ricasoli and Visconti-Venosta, as well as our
FRANCE AND PRUSSIA THREATEN US 267
representatives abroad, wanted to extend our frontiers so
as to include the territory of Trent, or, at anyrate, what-
ever ground was occupied by our troops, ze, the Uzz
Possidetis. There was every prospect of a furious struggle,
and La Marmora, fearing we might be worsted, asked for an
eight days’ armistice, in order to discuss matters and treat
with the archduke. This the latter refused to grant until
the Italian troops in occupation of the Trent territory and
those marching on Trieste were recalled. At the expira-
tion of eight days things stood at the same point as on the
first. Meanwhile, the Austrian army was daily reinforced,
and Prussia, who no longer wished to continue the war,
assumed a threatening attitude, and tried to force us to
conclude the armistice. The Emperor Napoleon, angry at
his mediation not having been accepted, also threatened
us, and accused us of risking a general war by refusing
to simply accept Venetia. It was patent to all that an
armistice followed by a peace was inevitable, and that
we should be baulked of our revenge. A prolongation of
the suspension of arms for another week was therefore
asked.
On July 28th I entered Vicenza, to the relief of the
inhabitants, who had been left without a garrison, and
feared molestation from the Austrians at Verona. I should
have enjoyed my stay in the beautiful city had I been less
tormented by the fear of a more or less dishonourable
peace. I did not ask what was going on, and no informa-
tion was given to me, and although the king was near by
at Padua, I avoided going there until called. Some days
after the second suspension of arms Victor Emanuel sent
for me; he was ill and low spirited—a rare thing—and had
been bled twice by the doctor’s orders. Worried and per-
plexed as to what decision to take, he wished to have my
opinion and advice. I answered briefly, not that I was
offended by having been told so little about the political
268 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
and military conditions of the country, but after witnessing
almost daily for sixteen years the pitfalls and the diffi-
culties which surround the life of a Constitutional sovereign,
I knew what his good intentions were worth, and what
practical use he could'make of the advice of sincere friends,
when that advice was contrary to the deliberations of the
ministers. So I replied that I was not in a position to
express an opinion, or to give any advice, as I knew
nothing of what was going on. When I said this, Victor
Emanuel looked me straight in the face with the half-
affectionate, half-sceptical, but wholly good-natured
expression I knew so well and loved so dearly, and half
sighing, half laughing, with the same tone of voice in which
twenty years before he had said to me, ‘ La, lacam cria nen
2 fareu tut lo cha veul, he said, ‘You are right; it shall not
occur again. Henceforward I shall tell you everything, and
you must advise me.’ He then initiated me into the
difficulties of his position, in the midst of a terrible struggle
between the opinion of his ministers, the just wishes of his
army and of the nation, which he shared, and the imperious
will of three European powers far stronger than ourselves.
He told me several facts which, to my mind, rendered the
situation exceedingly grave.
Although La Marmora was no longer chief of the staff
of the whole army, but only of the corps of observation
(corpo di osservazione), he continued to exercise the
functions of generalissimo, and was therefore far better
informed than myself. He considered our position to be
so perilous that to save the army and the country he
resolved to sacrifice his popularity to the public wrath, and
signed the armistice which, in despite of diplomacy, of the
Italian ministry, and of public opinion, saved Italy from an
Austrian invasion, and from still greater calamities.
The armistice had not been signed when I saw the
king at Padua; perhaps he hoped that my opinion would
LA MARMORA SACRIFICES POPULARITY 269
have been contrary to that of La Marmora. Twenty-
four hours later, during the night of the roth August, His
Majesty telegraphed to me in cipher, peremptorily asking
whether I thought the armistice arranged at Cormons, by
order of La Marmora, between General Petitti and General
Moring ought to be accepted or not. I replied, ‘Consider-
ing our bad strategical position, I think the armistice
should be signed.’ My reply was immediate, and des-
patched at midnight, and I used one of the ciphers given
to me by the king; yet next morning (I heard afterwards
from Pettinengo) my telegram, translated, was in the
hands of the ministers.
The armistice was signed that same day (11th August).
I do not suppose my advice had any weight with the king,
or that he desired to throw any part of the responsibility
on me. La Marmora generously assumed it all. As
president of the Council he treated with Prussia, Austria
and France, and knew better than anyone what dangers
threatened us. He was daring and resolute, as he had been
on many other occasions. The evil having been done, it
could not have been better remedied.
Cialdini and Garibaldi were ordered to retreat from the
positions they occupied, and God alone knows with what a
sore heart the hero of Nice answered the telegraphic order,
with the simple and now famous word—wddidisco (I
obey).
CHAPTER XXV
1866-1867
Cialdini Chief of ,the Staff of the Army—lIIllness of Victor Emanuel—La
Marmora retires to Private Life—Annexation of Venetia—Enthusiastic
Reception of Victor Emanuel in Venice—Marriage of Prince Amadeus.
of Savoy—Death of Count di Castiglione.
AFTER the armistice had been signed, peace was regarded
as a certainty, and all who were able left the camp and the
headquarters. I retained the 16th division at Vicenza, and
sent a large portion of the 1oth to Padua to guard the
king’s headquarters, which were not far from the Austrian
outposts, and entirely denuded of troops. Absorbed by
the difficulties of the situation, the chief of the staff had
given no more thought to the headquarters of the general
commander-in-chief. Victor Emanuel, with his usual active
habits, rode all over the country, sometimes at dawn, some-
times late in the evening, accompanied by only one aide-
de-camp. Fortunately, these excursions were not noticed
by the enemy. Imagine what consternation there would
have been in the army had the Austrians taken the king
prisoner !
At that moment no one thought of giving fresh orders.
La Marmora had resigned, and Cialdini had accepted the
position of chief of the staff of the army; but the former
still momentarily retained the signature, because Cialdini
had made certain conditions, and insisted on their fulfil-
ego
ILLNESS.OF VICTOR EMANUEL 271
ment before assuming office. One of the conditions was
that La Marmora should have no active command, and not
interfere at headquarters, or in any particular in which the
responsibility of Cialdini was engaged. The latter was
still very popular, and everything he asked was conceded,
in the hope that he would succeed better than anyone else
in making the nation understand the necessity of bowing
to the political exigencies of the moment. On the 25th
August everything was settled, and General Menabrea
started for Vienna to treat for peace.
I wrote to Cialdini to congratulate him, and from that
day our relations, which had been interrupted during the
campaign, were renewed. His acceptance of such a posi-
tion at the close of the war was incomprehensible to many ;
but people soon understood that he had taken it in order
to become master of the army, and, in case of need, curb
the storm which threatened from within.
On the 1st September I went to Padua to take leave
of the king, who had been ordered by his doctor to return
to Piedmont. But his departure had to be retarded for ten
or twelve days, owing to a relapse—a threatening of
paralysis—which fortunately passed off in twenty-four
hours. The circumstances of the armistice, its antecedents
and its consequences, had affected even the robust fibre of
Victor Emanuel. He spoke but little of himself, and a
great deal of me, and I was deeply touched when, on
taking leave, he said, ‘I wish I could compensate you in
some way for the unjust accusations, and unpleasantness
you have had during this campaign. However, you will
soon return to Turin. I have insisted on your being
reinstated in your old command. Are you satisfied ?’
‘Yes, your Majesty,’ I replied ; ‘but, if wanted at Verona or
elsewhere, I should go with pleasure. I have no longer the
same motives as some years ago to wish for the command
at Turin at any cost.’ ‘I know,’ said the king ; ‘but you will
(272 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF-A VETERAN
be happier in Turin than anywhere else. Come and see
me often at Florence.’
On leaving the king I stopped at Stra, a royal villa
where Cialdini had established his headquarters. We
talked over the war, and found that we agreed on many
points. With more or less philosophy we discussed the
painful impressions received since we last met. He told
me about the political conditions of Italy from the 5th
July to the 15th August, much of which I had already
heard from the king. The day before I left Vicenza for
Ferrara, I returned to Stra to take leave of Cialdini. He
was out, so I left a few lines. In his answer, though
written with his usual humour, one can read between the
lines the bitterness we all felt.2 I also saw La Marmora
1 Extract of Lettér from General Della Rocca to his wife.
‘VICENZA, 2d Sept. 1866.
‘, . . [have paid my two visits. The king was still unwell, and not in
good spirits. Cialdini, on the contrary, in high good-humour; he told me
many things, some I knew already. . . . From what the king said, I hope
to be in command at Turin again. . . . Judging by the telegrams of yesterday,
one would say that in the high imperial and royal circles, French and German,
they don’t know what they are doing or saying :— .
‘zst. ‘* Austria cedes Venetia to the Emperor Napoleon.”
‘2d. ‘* By the Treaty of Prague she assures Venetia to Italy.”
‘3d. ‘* By the treaty signed at Paris on the 24th Austria cedes Venetia to
France.”
‘ath. ‘* France cedes Venetia to the municipal bodies.”
‘sth. ‘* A national p/éb7scite will decide to whom Venetia is to belong.”
‘6th. ‘* Menabrea goes to Vienna to discuss what portion of the debt Italy
is to assume for Venetia . . . which is not yet hers, and perhaps
may never be!”
‘What amess!...’
*StrA, 25th Sept. 1866.
2 *DEAR FRIEND,—Thanks for the courteous good-bye contained in your
kindly lines of yesterday. . .. I have a presentiment that this is our last
campaign, and as it seems that the country is not satisfied with its generals,
we shall be beaten and demolished without ceremony. We stand in the way
of growing ambitions, and we shall receive . . . the same kick we once gave
to our predecessors. This is only natural, and I don’t complain ; but it dis-
tresses me to finish my career like a fool, by an odious campaign which has
satisfied no one, and made everybody say that the Italian generals are so many
matriculated asses.’
ANNEXATION OF VENETIA 273
at Vicenza towards the end of August, a few days after
he had definitely retired from public life. I think he was
thankful to be quit of the responsibility, and although
perfectly aware of the harsh judgments passed upon him
(with the Treaty of Cormons he had voluntarily cast his
popularity to the winds), he was perfectly tranquil, because
persuaded that he had saved the army and the country
from imminent peril. He attributed the many misfortunes
of that unfortunate campaign to various things, which may
have contributed, but were certainly not the principal causes
of our disasters. In my opinion, these were—ignorance of
the positions of the enemy, and the want of the general
commander-in-chief’s headquarters on the 24th July; want
of unity in the command; and the diplomatic negotiations
(probably necessary and well conducted) which fatally inter-
rupted and impeded the action of the army until the con-
clusion of peace between Austria and Prussia, which left
us alone to face the enormous forces of the enemy.
On the 3d October the treaty ceding Venetia to France
was signed, and immediately after the p/ébiscite the im-
perial commissary, General Lebceuf, made the territory over
to the Italian government. His presence and manners were
not calculated to calm the irritation existing between the
Italians and the French. The plébisctte—647,384 favour-
able votes against 69 negatives—was a consolation to Victor
Emanuel, who suffered more for the Italian cause in the
year 1866 than ever before. Early in November I assisted
at the reception of the Venetian deputation, which pre-
sented to the sovereign the Act of Annexation, the result
of the plbzsczte, and the homage of his new subjects.
The king had insisted on receiving the Venetian
deputation in his ex-capital, where he had received the
Lombard, Tuscan, Parma, Piacenza and Romagna depu-
tations. It was a kind of last homage rendered to the
city which had been the cradle and the centre of the
)
274 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
movement for the renascence, the independence and the
unity of Italy.
After the ceremony Victor Emanuel sent for me to
his apartments, and invited me to accompany him to
Venice. He then told me of some disagreeable things
which had happened in his military and civil court.
Good-natured General Rossi, who succeeded me as first
aide-de-camp to the king, was indirectly responsible, as
he had never made his authority felt over the military
court. He had sent in his resignation on account of bad
health, and the king asked if I would resume my old
position. I thanked His Majesty for this fresh proof of
benevolence, but observed that if I accepted I should
have to resign my military command, and that on the
morrow of so unfortunate a campaign I did not think I
was justified to do so in order to take a pleasant and
honourable position. I reminded the king that some
years before, at Naples, he had insisted on my retaining
the command when I wished to follow him to Turin, say-
ing that he was as jealous of my military reputation as I
was myself, and would not allow me to quit a position in
which he was kind enough to say I rendered good service.
Now circumstances were more serious, and I could not
leave my position of military commander on active service
for the attractive post of his first aide-de-camp. The king
remained silent for a moment, then jumped up and shook
my hand, saying, ‘A fa rason.’1 But his voice had a
tone of regret which touched me.
The king entered Venice on the 7th November, amid
such frantic enthusiasm that he was visibly moved. I
doubt whether any sovereign was ever so heartily cheered
as Victor Emanuel between 1859 and 1870.
According to the treaty of September 1864 the French
troops evacuated Rome about two months after the peace
1 ¢ You are right.’
MARRIAGE OF PRINCE AMADEUS 275
of Vienna, and Ricasoli was treating with the Holy See on
the lines laid down by Cavour—a free Church in a free State.
Through my brother Frederick, who was on a secret mission
to the pontifical government, Pius IX. sent affectionate
messages to the king, who thought he might obtain better
terms from the Pope than his government could hope for.
But the Holy Father’s benevolence was confined to words,
and a few slight concessions regarding the vacant bishops’
sees. Ricasoli was most anxious to come to some under-
standing, and made large financial concessions in the
hope of tempting the Pope and the clergy. Although
the negotiations were secret, some information had leaked
out, and raised a storm of discontent in the Chambers and
the country. The Venetians were particularly violent, and
the ministry suspended public meetings in Venetia. But
hostile manifestations still continued, and in February
Ricasoli dissolved the Chambers. The new elections
(10th March) greatly increased the power of the Opposi-
tion; Ricasoli fell, Cialdini attempted in vain to form a
ministry, and Victor Emanuel then called in Rattazzi,
who in a few days succeeded in presenting to the king a
Cabinet, culled from every party in Parliament.
In the spring of 1868 the advocate Cassinis, an honest
man, who had been a minister of the crown several times,
and was a devoted adherent of the royal family, and a
friend of the family Pozzo della Cisterna, suggested a
marriage between Prince Amadeus, second son of the
king, and the only daughter and heiress of Prince della
Cisterna. The two young people were engaged for two
months, and married at Turin on the 30th May. My wife
was ill at Florence, so I was not at the marriage, and next
day we heard the sad news of the sudden death of Count
di Castiglione. Verasis di Castiglione was my wife’s first
cousin, and our intimate friend. He had just been named
first equerry and director of the royal stables, and con-
276 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF-A VETERAN
sidered it his duty to accompany the royal princes from
Turin to the castle of Stupinigi, where they were to pass
the honeymoon. Just before reaching the castle Castiglione
was seized with a fit of apoplexy, and fell dead from his
horse, almost under the wheels of the carriage. He was
the husband of the beautiful countess so well known under
the Second Empire, and was still passionately in love
with her, although they had been separated for several
years,
CHAPTER XXXVI
1867-1870
Garibaldi preaches Rebellion, is Imprisoned, then sent to Caprera—Escapes
and beats the Papal Troops at Monte Rotondo—Mentana—Marriage
of Prince Humbert and Princess Margaret of Savoy—Alarming Illness
of the King—Birth of the Prince of Naples—Rome, Capital of Italy.
IN the spring of 1867 Garibaldi was in Tuscany, preaching
rebellion against the government, which, he believed, had
an understanding with the Pope, and urging the people to
elect deputies capable of leading the Italians to Rome.
His language was so violent that it became absolutely
necessary to arrest him. He was taken to Alessandria
and imprisoned in the fortress; but this raised such a
storm of protests, and increased the unpopularity of Rattazzi
to such an extent, that Garibaldi was released from prison
and sent to Caprera, escorted by several ships of war,
which remained to watch the island.
Notwithstanding the absence of Garibaldi, volunteers
continued to assemble on the pontifical frontier. The
French government sent a note to remind the Italian
government of the conditions of the Convention of Sep-
tember 1864, which imposed upon France the duty of
protecting the frontiers of the Papal dominions. Not
receiving an immediate answer, the emperor despatched
troops to Toulon to embark on the fleet destined for
Civitavecchia. Rattazzi had delayed his answer, trying to
277
278 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
strike a balance on the Roman question between the
observance of the treaty and the wishes of the nation.
Encouraged by the example of Cavour in 1860, when no
convention existed between France and Italy, he secretly
protected Garibaldi. It was also said that his wife, a
cousin of the emperor’s, wrote from Paris that he need pay
no attention to the threats, which were only made to
satisfy public opinion in France. Rattazzi, as I have said,
treated the first French despatch as of no account, and
contented himself with declaring in Parliament that the
government had no intention of violating the Conven-
tion of September, but he took no measures against the
invading bands. :
Then came the news that Garibaldi had escaped from
Caprera and was in Tuscany, and, immediately afterwards,
that the emperor had ordered his fleet to start for Civita-
vecchia. Victor Emanuel understood the danger, dis-
missed the Rattazzi ministry and wrote to the emperor,
to assure him that the Convention should be respected.
Napoleon thereupon suspended the departure of the fleet,
and awaited the end of the crisis.
Cialdini was charged with the formation of a new
ministry, but, wishing to please all parties, was so slow
that, after a week, the king lost patience, and took matters
into his own hands. In twenty-four hours his chief aide-
de-camp* had made a ministry, of which Gualterio and
Cambray-Digny formed part. But precious time had been
lost, and it was too late. The volunteers had crossed the
frontier, Garibaldi had passed through Florence, and, join-
ing his followers at Monte Rotondo, had beaten the Papal
troops. Victor Emanuel issued a proclamation to protest
against their action ; but meanwhile the French troops had
disembarked at Civitavecchia, with orders to attack the
invaders of the Pontifical territory. We were then forced
1 General Menabrea.
MENTANA 279
to send our troops across the confines ‘zo assist in re-
establishing order and law.’ Everyone knows how it ended.
Caught between two fires, the Papal troops on one side
and the French chassepots on the other, the Garibaldians
were beaten at Mentana. Doggedly faithful to his pro-
gramme, which was not that of September, Garibaldi
crossed the frontier, was arrested, and taken first to the
fortress of Varignano, and then to Caprera, under strict
surveillance.
1868 and 1869 were uneventful years in the foreign
politics of Italy. The French continued to hold Civita-
vecchia, thus, in fact, abrogating the Convention of Sep-
tember. Relations between the two countries became
strained ; the chassepots qui avaient fait merveilles against
untrained and undisciplined youths certainly did not do
mervetles in favour of French interests. The bitter and
imperious words of certain ministers of the emperor—
‘Que les Italiens n’auraient jamais Rome, and ‘Que fe
adrapeau francais flotterait toujours sur le Vatican’—had the
natural result that, when France was at war with Prussia
in 1870, she no longer found in Italy the ally she might
reasonably have counted upon between 1859 to 1867.
In spite of ministerial changes Menabrea remained
President of the Council until the last days of 1869. The
financial question was always the difficulty. Italy was
made, and had been on the eve of conquering her capital.
But it had cost money. Every year showed a deficit of
several millions, and during those years the unpopular
laws of Ferrari, Cambray-Digny and Sella were proposed
and passed—the tobacco monopoly, the grist tax, the tax
on the public funds, etc., etc.
On 22d April 1868 the heir to the throne married his
cousin, the young Princess of Savoy, daughter of the Duke
of Genova and the Princess Elizabeth of Saxony. The
marriage was extremely popular, especially in Turin,
280 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
where Princess Margaret—handsome, good and intelligent
—was adored. Her departure was a great loss to my
daughters, who were companions of the young princess.
The following year my eldest daughter married Count
Francesetti di Hautecceur, lieutenant in the Piacenza
Hussars.
Towards the end of 1869 the king was ill at San
Rossore (near Pisa). The symptoms were so alarming
that His Majesty asked for the last sacraments. Menabrea
sent at once to the Archbishop of Pisa to request him to
send a priest with the viaticum. The Archbishop sent a
young priest, with orders to read a declaration to the king,
and obtain his signature to it before granting absolution.
This was nothing less than a formal retractation of all the
acts committed during the reign of Victor Emanuel
contrary to the rights of the Holy See. But the king, who
was perfectly conscious, and preserved his strength of
mind, refused to sign, on the plea that it was a public act,
which he could only sign in the presence of his ministers.
‘The prime minister is in the next room, he said, ‘go and
show him the paper.’ Agitated and trembling, the young
priest obeyed. Menabrea, furiously angry, threatened to
have him arrested and put in prison if he persisted in
refusing absolution, as the law punishes severely any
attempt to coerce the conscience of a dying person. The
priest, thoroughly frightened, returned to the room of the
king who received absolution and the last sacrament in
the presence of the heir-apparent, of the Prince of
Carignano, of the Countess Mirafiore (to whom he had
been privately married a short time before), of Menabrea,
and of a few of the high officials of the Court. A few
days later Princess Margaret gave birth in Naples to a
son, who was named Victor Emanuel, and received the
title of Prince of Naples.
The new session opened with a series of hostile
BIRTH OF PRINCE OF NAPLES 281
demonstrations against the ministry, once more re-formed
under Menabrea. The government put forward Adrian
Mari as their nominee for the presidency of the Chamber,
but he was beaten by a large majority by G. Lanza. In such
cases, which are rare, Parliamentary custom demands that
the new president of the Chambers should be called to
form a ministry. The king had only just returned from
San Rossore ; he was still unwell, and regretted the fall of
Menabrea. Instead of receiving Lanza at once, he sent
to propose various combinations for the new ministry, in
which he desired to have, if not Menabrea, at all events
Gualterio and Cambray-Digny. Lanza refused to accept
any suggestions, and difficulties arose, which prolonged the
abnormal situation.
Just at this time I was summoned to Florence by the
illness of my brother Frederick, prefect of the palace.
Lanza had just seen the king, and told him frankly that
the majority in the Chambers was against Menabrea, and
that he could not undertake to form a ministry in which
any member of the Court entered. He quoted the
example of England, the model constitutional kingdom,
where not only men filling positions about the Court were
debarred from becoming ministers, but even the high
Court officials were changed with the change of parties.
Lanza therefore declared that he felt constrained to
decline the mandate, unless the king removed from his
Court the three high officials who had been in the late
ministry — Menabrea, Gualterio and Cambray - Digny.
Victor Emanuel demanded two days for reflection, and
then acceded to the request ; and Lanza at once formed his
ministry.
In January my brother Frederick died, aged only 54,
and I returned to Turin, where my wife and daughters
(Countess Francesetti was there with her husband) did all
they could to mitigate my sorrow. The following May
282. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A VETERAN
she augmented our family by a baby girl, called Margaret
after the Crown Princess, who was her godmother. The
baby has in her turn grown up, is married to Colonel
di Robilant, and has made me a great grandfather.
When the high military commands were abolished in
1867 I was asked to say what post, suitable to my
seniority and rank, I wished for. I replied by placing
myself unreservedly at the disposition of the government
for any military service they considered me capable of.
A few months later the minister of war offered me the
command of the troops in the southern provinces. But
the impressions received in 1861 had been too strong.
I remembered the impossibility of obtaining men and
money, without which it was impossible to attempt to
cope with the brigandage which still infested the country,
and I refused. My occupations were therefore reduced to
the presidency of the military order of Savoy, and my
work on the commission for the defence of the State. In
1867 I was occupied with the defence of the frontiers of
the Venetian provinces, in 1868 with those of Naples, and
in 1870 with the fortifications of Rome. I went to Rome
a month after the entry of our troops, and was joined by
my wife and second daughter. We were caught by a
great inundation of the Tiber, and for two days could not
get out of the Hotel de Rome in Piazza S. Carlo. The
officers of the commission fished for and caught two or
three tables as they whirled past our first floor windows,
and cleverly used them as rafts. They went to the Piazza
di Spagna and other dry spots, and brought us back the
news.
The plébiscite in Rome and in the province, in favour
of annexation to Italy, had taken place a few days before
our arrival, and Michelangelo Caetani, Duke of Ser-
monata, went at the head of a deputation to Florence to
announce it to the king. The Parliamentary elections
ROME, CAPITAL OF ITALY 283
took place in November, and on the 5th, for the first time,
Roman deputies took their seats in the Italian Chambers.
The day before, the 4th, the king received at Pitti Palace
the deputation of the Cortes, which came to offer the
crown of Spain to his second son, Prince Amadeus, Duke
of Aosta. The transfer of the Parliament and government
from Florence to Rome was to take place in June 1871,
when the Quirinal would be ready to receive the royal
family. There was a great difference of opinion between
Lanza and Sella as to the best time for the king to visit
the capital. Sella wanted him to go at once. Where His
Majesty would have lodged, I know not. Lanza insisted
that the king should not precede the government and the
Parliament. He threatened to resign if his opinion was
overruled, and Victor Emanuel was reluctantly about to
give way when the inundation cut the gordian knot, inspir-
ing him with the happy idea of going amongst his new
subjects in their time of trouble. He arrived in Rome
early in the morning, visited, amid the hearty cheers of
the people, the parts of the city which had suffered the
most and left late in the evening for Florence.
In January my wife and daughter went to pass some
time in Florence, where they met Baron G. Sonnino, who,
in April, became engaged to my daughter Helen. They
were married at Turin in September, twenty-two years
after my own marriage. My military career and my func-
tions as father of a family ceased almost at the same time.
I was consoled by the birth of five grandchildren, who
have been the joy and delight of my old age.
TO THE READER
WHEN in October 1896 my husband dictated the last
chapter of his memoirs, and declared the work was finished,
the whole family protested. We endeavoured to persuade
him that his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren
would be but ill-satisfied at his biography being brought
to a close without giving any account of the years between
1871 and 1896. The general thought to silence us by
saying, ‘A happy nation has no history. During these
twenty-five years I have been a happy man, and therefore
have nothing to narrate.’
‘One of those years, 1878, was an unhappy one, we
objected; ‘and you must say in what a grandfather’s
happiness consists. It will be a great joy to the children,
and also redound to the honour of those who have made
you happy.’ He smiled and answered, ‘Very well; I
will talk about my family, and then?’ ‘ Your agricultural
pursuits, your wine-making, the Institute for Soldiers’
Daughters, which has been your second family.’ Thus,
little by little, we arranged the plan of our work. But
the autumn chills of Luserna drove us to the home of
our second daughter in Tuscany; and then we went to
Rome to stay with our eldest daughter. Everyone wanted
to read the autobiography, and then declared it must
be published. The general was, however, so averse to
making public what had been written solely for the family
that we were obliged to come to a compromise, and
content ourselves with the permission to publish the first
volume only.
The correction of the proofs kept us busy during the
284
TO THE READER 285
winter of 1897, and the epilogue, already commenced, was
laid aside. My husband was then in excellent health; the
pages were read and re-read to him, and he suppressed or
added paragraphs with perfect clearness of intellect. The
first volume appeared on the 20th June, the general’s
ninetieth birthday, and had an immediate success, so much
so, that a hostile paper called it the ‘ Idol of the Day.’
Twenty-two days afterwards, at Luserna, I read him a
letter from the publisher, saying that the first edition was
exhausted, and asking leave to publish a second—a popular
edition. The general was not well; he was in the garden,
where he had passed the day under the trees, and his chair
had just been drawn into the open in order that he might
enjoy the last rays of the setting sun. I see him now, his
head resting on his hand, and his elbow on the arm of his
chair, as with half-playful, half-sceptical smile, he said,
‘Well, I suppose now I must believe it is a success.
Money is not words. If the publisher is satisfied with the
sale of the book, it means that people like it.’
A few days later the illness from which he had been
suffering for some weeks made rapid progress, and a
month later, on the 12th August, he passed from the arms
of his dear ones to those of God. Eight months have
elapsed. Withasad heart, I must finish alone the epilogue
we began together.
COUNTESS IRENE DELLA ROCCA
EPILOGUE
1871-1893
THE last twenty-five years of the life of General Henry
Della Rocca, from 1872 to 1897, may be described in a few
lines by amplifying a saying of his on his return to Luserna
after the unfortunate campaign of 1866:—The month of
October spent among my dear ones passed like a single
cloudless day.’ | |
They were calm and peaceful years, clouded only by
the disappearance of one or another of those to whom he
had dedicated the devotion of a lifetime or a brotherly
friendship. The friends of his youth had been dead for
years, and this last period of his life was saddened by the
loss of many he loved, and who were much younger than
himself; above all, by the death of King Victor Emanuel,
whose character and disposition he probably knew better
than anyone, and to whom he was absolutely devoted.
Between 1870 and 1880 five grandchildren were born to
us—four girls anda boy. The children loved him dearly,
for he knew how to make himself a child with children.
One day, when past seventy, I found him in the garden
teaching the little girls how to skip. He was showing them
how to make the rope pass twice under one’s feet in one
skip, and did it again and again with extraordinary agility
for his age.
As an outlet for his energy and vigour he took to farm-
ing, or, rather, vine-growing, in 1869 and 1870. Ona small
scale, it is true, but with as much zeal as though the yield
286
ee ee ee ee Oe ee” ee
EPILOGUE 287
of that small piece of land was 100,000 francs instead of
IO00 or 2000.
Between 1870 and 1880, in obedience to my often-
expressed wish, the general began to write down his
memories. On loose sheets of paper he noted down an
episode, an event, or a biography of some illustrious per-
sonage he had known, and threw them into a drawer with-
out date or order. He consigned them all to me in 1884,
when he ceased to write, and they were very useful when,
in 1893, he began to dictate his memoirs. It is a comfort
to me to think that this occupation was an amusement to
him. We lived the old days over again together, and called
up memories of beloved friends. He was proud of his
excellent memory, narrated simply and ingenuously, and
his descriptions were so graphic that one saw the people
and heard them talk. Of himself he talked without osten-
tation or exaggerated modesty, describing what he had
done and why he did it, and all he had seen and thought,
never thinking that his words would be read outside his
own family.
The general was one of the promoters of the National
Institute for Soldiers’ Daughters, and worked hard as vice-
president from 1867, when it was founded, until 1874, when
he was named president, an office he kept till his death.
1878 was the saddest, or, rather, the only sad, year of
the last period of the life of General Della Rocca. It opened
with the death of Alphonse La Marmora and alarming
rumours about the health of the king. The general at once
’ left for Rome, but arrived too late to see Victor Emanuel
alive. On receiving my husband’s telegram I at once
joined him at Rome. Sad and miserable were the days
we spent at the hotel, and saddest of all the 11th January,
the day of the funeral. I assisted my husband to put on
his uniform, covered with medals and decorations, and
observed that he was deadly pale. I was unhappy and
288 EPILOGUE
anxious, knowing what his feelings were, and would be,
during the long ceremony and slow march beside the coffin,
for he, as doyen of the Order of the Annunziata, was one of
the pall-bearers.
We stayed a few days in Rome to tender our condol-
ences and do homage to the new king and queen. Just as
we were starting for Turin the general was informed that
he had been designated as ambassador extraordinary to
Paris and London to announce the death of Victor
Emanuel and the advent to the throne of Humbert IL,
On our way to Turin he asked me to go with him, as
none of the officers of the Embassy knew English.
At the Elysée the general met two companions-at-arms
of 1859— MacMahon, President of the Republic, and
Marshal Canrobert. Canrobert told him it was the first
time he had dined at the Elysée, though often invited, and
that he had accepted only to meet him and hear about *the
last years of Victor Emanuel.
We waited several days in London, as the Queen had
gone to the Isle of Wight ; and on her return we were in-
vited to Windsor for two days. The Queen spoke several
times to the general about Victor Emanuel, whose name
had become the centre of a sort of heroic and popular
legend, in which, as in all legends, some truth was mixed
with fiction. Her Most Gracious Majesty, as they call the
Queen in England, asked particularly about the events of
the last twenty years, and courteously recalled having seen
the general in 1855, when the king was in England. She
ordered a picture of the military review given in his honour,
and sent it to Turin as a present to my husband. With
me she talked of Queen Adelaide, and made many in-
quiries about young Queen Margaret, for whom she gave
me two richly-bound volumes—TZz%e Life of the Prince
Consort, written by herself.
In 1881 a friend persuaded the general to send some of
EPILOGUE 289
his grapes and samples of his wine to a viticultural exhi-
bition at Pinerolo. I seem to see his happy face on the
arrival of a diploma of merit; I really think it gave him
more pleasure than all the ribbons and decorations he had
received from the principal European Courts. To these
he attached little importance, he only valued his war
medals and the decorations given for services rendered
to his country.
In 1887,when he was eighty years old, though he still read
without glasses, his sight began to fail. Incipient cataract,
which never came to maturity, declared itself, and glasses
were of no avail. Blindness came on gradually, but never
became total ; so to the last he had the comfort of seeing
the light, especially the sun. How he waited for it! How
he enjoyed it! He begged that his shutters might be left
open in order to see the sun rise; he welcomed it every
morning with fresh delight, because it told him that he
was‘not totally blind. His great amusement at Rome
was to hear the first news from Montecitorio, the Con-
sulta, Palazzo Braschi and Palazzo Madama. He waited
with evident impatience for the evening paper, and still
more for the friends and some of the deputies who came to
tell him the news of the day. During the last twenty-five
years of his life he followed the vicissitudes of his country
and the acts of our sovereigns with the deepest interest,
and delighted in the popularity of the young princes. The
last paper that was read to him, on the 9th August 1897,
contained the news that the Count of Turin was going
to vindicate the outraged honour of Italians, and he
exclaimed, ‘Bravo! Bravissimo!’ His good wishes may
have brought good luck to the young prince.
And now it may be permitted to her who passed forty-
eight years by his side, and knew how frank and upright
was his character, and how kind and good his heart, to say
how he practised the philosophy of life. He liked neither
%
290 EPILOGUE
the name nor the abstract science of philosophy, and often
playfully rallied me on my taste for metaphysical reading.
‘Philosophy, my dear, is to be practised, not read,’ he
would say; and he did practise it. He never exaggerated
the misfortunes and ills of this life, but bore them, not with
passive resignation, but with courage and serenity—Loetus
in fronte and loetus in pectore—during the twenty years
when he lived forgotten at Turin and Luserna, and during
the three last years, when his residence at Rome, so to
speak, exhumed him from oblivion, and when his presence
in the Senate and at the Quirinal reminded people that
the veteran of 1848 and 1849 was still alive. He carried it
out when, in May 1897, he strolled down the Corso with his
grand-daughter on his arm, to take his customary glass of
vermouth, or go for flowers to bring home; and when he
sat in the rocking-chair, singing old Piedmontese songs to
himself, and smoking his cigar.
He was so absolutely truthful that his word could
never be doubted. People who only saw him once or
twice, or at long intervals, thought him cold, because he
was reserved, and had an aversion to paying compliments.
or saying what he did not feel. But they were wrong; he
was often silent to hide his emotion. This frankness, which
in youth may have been a drawback, stood him in good
stead with Victor Emanuel, who appreciated the truth
spoken opportunely and for a good reason, as he appre-
ciated that practical good sense, so much like his own.
To find a man so devoid of egoism as was the general.
is rare. He always thought of others first; and although.
in the last years of his life he disliked any change in his.
habits, he was ready to do anything he thought would be
for the good or the pleasure of those about him.
On 12th August 1897 he received, the last sacraments,
and died in his villa at Luserna, sitting in his favourite
armchair, calm and silent, with the sad look of one who»
EPILOGUE 291
deeply feels and sorrows over the separation from all his
beloved ones, whose warm affection he felt till the last.
The body was taken to Turin, to the house he had
lived in for more than forty years, and on 16th August—
a sad, rainy morning—it was carried to the church on a
gun-carriage, followed by the troops in garrison and car-
riages laden with wreaths. Thence it was taken to the
cemetery of Turin, placed in a temporary sarcophagus,
raised above ground like those of the ancients. The face
was turned towards the hill of Superga, where rests the
great initiator of the independence and unity of Italy, his
wife Maria Theresa, and the gentle and saintly Queen Maria
Adelaide, wife of the hero who sleeps in the Pantheon.
I must not lay down my pen without fulfilling a
wish my husband expressed five years since,on an April
morning in 1893. He was still in bed, dictating the auto-
biography with such rapidity that I could scarcely follow
him. The arrival of the morning papers, describing the
rejoicings on the occasion of the silver wedding of the
king and queen, interrupted us. When in Rome, in March,
we had presented our congratulations to their majesties
for the coming anniversary, and had been asked to dine
privately at the Quirinal. Afterwards the queen and the
prince questioned the general about the customs of the
old Piedmontese Court, which he had known so well. The
general listened while I read the description of the beauty,
the grace, the triumphs of Queen Margaret, who attracted
all eyes amid the queens and princesses assembled to cele-
brate the silver wedding, and then said, ‘Some day, per-
haps, when I am gone, the queen may like to read my old
stories. Were I a poet ora literary man, capable of com-
posing a fine dedication, I would dedicate these pages to
her; but I do not know how to say what I feel. Please,
however, put on record that to-day, 23d April 1893, he
292 EPILOGUE
who was sent to Saxony to ask the hand of her mother,
the Princess Elizabeth, for the Duke of Genova, and who
the following year was among the first to see the infant
girl, sends her a greeting and a hurrah on the occasion of
her silver wedding; proclaims her the most popular, the
most graceful and gracious of reigning queens, and himself
the most affectionate admirer and devoted subject of the
Queen of Italy, as he was of the youthful Princess Margaret
of Savoy.’
Pavel) EX.
A
ALBERT, Archduke of Austria, 256,
260 ; returns to Italy after Sadowa,
266.
Prince (the Prince Consort),
121.
Amadeus, Duke of Aosta, 246;
wounded at Custoza, 250, 259
(note); marriage of, 275; crown
of Spain offered to, 283.
Angouléme, Duc d’, 23 (and note), 24.
Antonelli, Cardinal, 182.
Aosta, Duchess of. See Maria Theresa
of Este.
Austrians, the, turned out of Milan,
53; retire towards the Adige, 57 ;
driven back to Pastrengo, 58, 59,
60; driven across the Adige, 61,
63, 64; attempt to turn our right
at-Goito, 72; withdraw, 73, 75;
number of, 773; occupy hills
opposite Villafranca, 80; take
Duke of Savoy’s position at Cus-
toza, 82; repulse De Sonnaz at
Volta, 83, 85; in Milan, 89 (and
note), 90, 93; cross the Ticino, 94,
98 ; occupy halfof the citadel of Ales-
sandria, 108; evacuate the kingdom
of Sardinia, 109; said to number
over 200,000 men, 136; prepare to
cross the Sesia, 140; defeated at
Palestro, 143, 1443 cross the Ticino
by a forced march, 146 ; are beaten
at Magenta, 149; under Urban,
followed by Della Rocca, 151;
retreat beyond the Mincio, 154;
recross the Mincio, are beaten at
Solferino,. 158, 159, 160, 163,
234; occupy the heights of Cus-
toza, 245, 249; occupy heights of
Beretara in force, 250, 259 (note) ;
retreat after Sadowa, 261, 262;
retire from the Quadrilateral, 264.
Azeglio, D’, Christine, Marchioness,
28.
—— Emanuel, Marquis, 121.
—— Massimo, Marquis, 2, 44; pre-
sident of the Council, 108, 109, I10,
II5, 116, 120, 121, 225.
B
BARAGUAY D’HILLIERS, Marshal,
135, 141, 142, 147, 149, 150, 158.
Bava, E., General, 55, 59, 63, 64,
65; ordering retreat of Cuneo
brigade, 66, 71, 72, 75, 76, 78, 80,
81, 82; reluctantly falls back on
Milan, 84, 85, 87, 88; acutely feels
unjust criticisms, 90; publishes his
account of campaign of 1848, 91, 93.
Benedek, General von, at S. Mar-
tino, 159, 162.
Bianzé, Gaspar Morozzo, Marquis of ;
new ideas hateful to, 2, 3, 4.
Bixio, Nino, General, 178, 198, 240,
243, 244, 249, 251; recommended
by Della Rocca as chief of the
staff, 253.
C
CapoRNA, R., Colonel, afterwards
General, 93, 158, 181, 234.
Canrobert, Marshal, 134, 1353; a
good officer, 142, 145, 160, 288.
Carbonari, the, 12, 14, 15, 16, 27, 29.
Carignano, Princess of. See Maria
Theresa, Archduchess of Austria.
Prince of. See Charles Albert.
Prince Eugene of, viceroy of
the kingdom of Sicily, 205, 206,
207 (note), 210, 212, 223.
Cattaneo, Charles, a leader of ‘ Young
Italy,’ 29.
293
294
Cavalli, General, 24 ; as a boy, 25.
Cavour, Camillo, Count of, 10, 13
(and note); as a boy, 25, 43; a
newspaper editor, 49, 50 (note);
becomes prime minister, 116;
makes a treaty with France and Eng-
land, 117, 1193; arranges first loan
with Rothschild, 1203; success in
Paris of, 124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 132,
133, 135 3 arrives at headquarters,
1643 loses his self-control, and is
insolent to the king, 165; resigna-
tion of, 166, 169; is reconciled to
the king, and again becomes prime
minister, 172; dissolves the Cham-
bers and reopens the question of
Savoy and Nice with Napoleon,
173, 1743 attacked by Garibaldi,
175, 178; decides to assist Gari-
baldi, 179, 189, 190, 206; letter
from to Della Rocca, 207; death
of, 211.
Charles Albert, Prince of Carignano,
afterwards King of Sardinia, 6, 7,
8 (and note, genealogical table), 9 ;
marriage of, 10, I1 ; scene at Court
ball, 14 ; Liberals centre their hopes
on, 15; regarded as a traitor by all
parties, 16; offered leadership of
revolutionary party, warns the king,
17 ; advocates granting concessions,
18 ; is named regent, 19; signs the
Constitution conditionally, is exiled
by the king, 20, 21 ; joins the Duc
d’Angouléme in Spain, distinguishes
himself at the Trocadero, 23; re-
called to Turin, 24, 25, 26; succeeds
to the throne, is regarded as a
Carbonaro, 27; character of, 28;
refuses to listen to Mazzini, 29,
30; threatened by Mazzinians and
Jesuits, 31, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39, 40,
41 (note), 42; gives fées at Rac-
conigi to his sister the Vice-Queen
of Lombardy, 43; indecision of,
44, 45; letter from, 46 (note);
grants reforms, 47; grants the
Constitution, 52; promises aid to
Lombardy, 53; enters Pavia after
declaration of war, 55, 56, 58, 60;
charges at the head of the carabin-
eers, 61; attempts to take Verona,
63; orders the retreat, 66, 69, 72;
announces fall of Peschiera, 74 (and
note), 76; resolves to blockade
Mantua, 78, 79, 80, 82, 85; offers
INDEX
to surrender Milan, 86; is besieged
by the mob, 87; leaves Milan, 88,
go ; crosses the Mincio, 94, 95, 96 ;
abdicates, 99 ; dies at Oporto, 109,
III, 114, 131, 153, 162.
Charles Emanuel IV., 1, 5, 6 (and
note).
Felix, Duke of Genevese, 9,
II, 14 (note), 16; becomes Ki
of Sardinia on the abdication of
his brother, 19; refuses to receive
Charles Albert, 20, 21; returns to
Turin, 22, 23, 24; invites General
Paolucci from Russia, 26; death
of, 27, 53-
Philip, Marquis Della Rocca.
See Della Rocca.
Chartres, Duke of, 146 (and note).
Cialdini, General, 155, 180, 181;
bars Lamoriciére’s advance on An-
cona, 187, 188, 189, 190, 192, 203,
204, 234, 235; commands army of
the Po, 239, 252, 253, 256; put in
command of 150,000 men, 259, 261,
262, 264, 265, 266, 269; becomes
chief of the staff of the army, 270,
271, 272 (letter and note), 275.
Clarendon, Earl of, offers his services
with Prussia, 215, 216.
Clotilde, Princess of Savoy, married
to Prince Jerome Napoleon, 133
(note), 172.
Crispi, Francesco, 178 (note).
Custoza, battle of (in 1848), 81, e¢ seg. ;
day of (in 1866), 242, e¢ seq.
Czarnowsky, General, ‘‘a_ perfect
monkey,” 9I ; is made commander-
in-chief, 92; crosses the Mincio,
94; retreats on Novara, 95, 96;
incapacity of, 97, 98, 100.
D
DELLA Rocca, Charles Philip, Mar-
quis, 2, 3 (and note), 4.
Enrico, Count (author
of autobiography), birth and family,
I, 2, 3, 4, 53 becomes page to
Prince of Carignano, 9; one of
first scholars in military college,
10; stands on step of carriage at
entry of Prince and Princess Carig-
nano, I1 ; scolded by the princess,
I2; begins studies at the Aca-
demy, 13; sees Prince of Carig-
INDEX — 295
nano return blackened with smoke
at Court ball, 14; runs away from
Academy, 21; becomes a lieu-
tenant, 25; enters the staff, 26 ;
is named second equerry to King
Charles Albert, 28; goes to Sar-
dinia, 31, 32; accompanies Duke
of Savoy bear-hunting, 33 ; sent on
secret mission to France, 34, 353
returns to Turin, is named equerry
to Victor Emanuel, Duke of Savoy,
36; enters palace and bedroom of
duke without hindrance, 38; be-
lieved to have great influence over
the duke, 42; goes to Paris, 43;
accompanies the duke disguised
at night, 51; becomes colonel and
chief of the staff to the duke, 54,
55, 583 perceives enemy about to
strike flank, 60; advises barring
Sona road, 61; climbs to top of
tower at Tana, 64; sent to recon-
noitre, 65; prepares plan to pre-
vent a junction of Radetzky and
Nugent, its reception by Charles
Albert, 69; obtains proof that
members of Municipal Council of
Villafranca are traitors, 70; is ill,
orders Grenadiers to charge, 72;
is with duke when wounded, 73;
goes to tell king his son is
wounded, 74; ill, taken to Volta,
753 at battle of Custoza, 81,
82, 83; is put in command of
troops round Goito, 84; goes
to release King Charles Albert
from mob in Milan, 87, 88;
named major-general in com-
mand of Acqui brigade, 93; begs
not to be promoted, 94; in first
line of attack, 95; last words of
Charles Albert to, 96; leads re-
treat on Biella, 99 ; returns to re-
connoitre, 100; becomes minister
of war, IOI ; stormy scene in the
Chambers, 103; loses brother in
Genoese revolution, 104, 105;
leaves ministry and marries, 110;
goes to Dresden and Prague, 113;
1s named chief of the staff, 114,
1153 is sent on secret mission
to Dusseldorf, 122, 123; be-
comes lieutenant-general, 125 ; sent
to Paris as ambassador extraor-
dinary, 127; conversations with
Napoleon, 128, 129, 13¢, 131, 132;
Princess Mathilde speaks to, 132;
returns to Turin, 133, 134; has to
think of whole allied army, 139,
141, 142; has altercation with
Froissart, 1433 interview with
Napoleon, 150; follows Urban, is
stopped by French officers, 151,152 ;
celebrates his fifty-second birthday,
1553 accompanies Napoleon and
Victor Emanuel, 156; involun-
tarily hears a letter from the em-
press read aloud, 157; sends
to order La Marmora to assume
command of the two corps Durando
and Fanti, 159; telegraphs victory
to Cavour, 160, 161; signs a
truce at Villafranca, 164; Cavour
comes to room of, 165, 166,
168; goes to see Marshal Vail-
lant, 169, 170; goes to Nice,
1743; made commander of 5th
Army Corps, 175 ; is sent to com-
pliment the ex-Duchess of Lucca,
176, 177, 179, 180; concentrates
his corps on Roman frontier, 181 ;
enters Citta di Castello, 182; besieges
Perugia, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187;
besieges Ancona, 188, 189, 190;
saves a Neapolitan general from the
mob at Sulmona, I9I, 192; meets
Bishop of Alife, 193 ; meets Gari-
baldi at Capua, 194; besieges
Capua, 195, 196; goes to Caserta
to see Garibaldi, 197; signs the
capitulation of Capua, 198 ; sent to
Naples to assume command, 199,
200, 201, 202; refuses to supplant
Cialdini, 203, 204; accepts mili-
tary command of the Two Sicilies,
205, 206; Cavour’s letter to, 207 ;
disgusted with want of morality
among Neapolitans, 209, 210, 211 ;
sent as ambassador extraordinary
to Berlin, 212, 213, 214, 215,
216 ; command to suppress riots in
Turin, 220, 221; combats opinion of
the ministers, 222; ordered by
king to invite ministers to resign,
and to take over military powers,
223, 224, 225, 226; resigns post
of first aide-de-camp, 229, 230;
named commander of the 3d corps,
234, 235; opinion of newspaper
correspondents, and _ description
of by correspondent of the Débats,
236 (note), crosses the Mincio, 239,
296 INDEX
240, 241, 242, 243, establishes his
headquarters at Villafranca, 246;
searches in vain for commander-
in-chief, 247; is ordered to hold
Villafranca, 248, 249, 250 ; receives
orders to retreat across the Mincio,
251; is asked by king to take La
Marmora’s position as chief of the
staff, he refuses, 252; tries to per-
suade La Marmora to remain, 253 ;
disagrees with La Marmora, 257,
258 ; is visited by king at Piadena,
259; meets Prince Jerome Na-
poleon, 265; receives orders to go
to Vicenza, 266; is consulted by
king, 267, 268, 269, ; visits Cialdini
at Stra, 272, 273; accompanies king
to Venice, 274; is called to the
deathbed of his brother at Florence,
281 ; refuses command of troops in
southern provinces, 282; end of
military career of, 283; death of,
285; account of by his wife, 286,
287, 288, 289, 290, 291.
F
FANTI, General, 105, 142, 144, 146,
148, 149; named minister of war,
173 ; army admirably organised by,
180, 181 ; at siege of Perugia, 185,
186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 192, 198,
201, 204, 205, 206; death of, 231.
Farini, Charles Louis, 171 ; home
minister, 200, 201; named vice-
roy of kingdom of Naples, 202, 217.
Ferdinand III., Grand Duke of Tus-
cany, 10.
II., King of Naples, 177.
Francis II., King of Naples, 50, 59,
177, 179, 197, 203.
Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria,
135, 1473; commands army in
person at Solferino, 158, 160, 161,
163; accepts armistice, I 64, 239,263.
Franco-Anglo alliance and Crimean
war, I19.
Franzini, General, 53, 54, 56, 59, 63,
76.
Froissart, General, 135, 143, 162.
G
GALLENGA, a leader of ‘ Young Italy,’
29.
Garibaldi, Guiseppe, 31; volunteers
placed under command of, 134,
148; beats the Austrians at Tre
Ponti, 155 ; upbraids Cavour in the
Chambers, 175, 191 ; salutes Victor
Emanuel for the first time as King
of Italy, 193; commands the
Southern Army at Capua, 194;
hands over command to Della
Rocca, 195; fill at Caserta, 197,
198; Dictator of Naples, 199;
drives through Naples with Victor
Emanuel, 200; offers to remain as
Viceroy at Naples, 201; offer of,
refused, he leaves for Caprera, 202,
269; preaches rebellion against the
government, 277 ; secretly protected
by Rattazzi, escapes from Caprera,
278; arrest of, 279.
Genevese, Duke of.
Felix of Savoy.
—— Duchess of. See Maria Chris-
tine of Naples.
Genoa, Duke of, 37; commands the
artillery, 56, 58, 79; at Custoza,
80, 81, 84; in Milan, 87, 96;
has three horses killed under him,
97, 98; marriage of, 113; des-
tined to command expedition to
the Crimea, 117; death of, 118.
Gioberti, V., exiled, 30; becomes
prime minister, 91; ministry of
falls, 92.
Giulay, Field Marshal; Count, 136;
incapacity of, 137, 139, 140;
masses his forces at Magenta, 147,
155.
See Charles
H
Hupson, Sir James, 115.
L
LAMARTINE, A. de, 52.
Lamoriciére, General, 180, 187; 196
(note).
La Marmora, Alexander, Colonel, 51,
57, 88; orders retreat, 98.
—— Alphonse, General, 24; as a
boy, 25; poses as a professor, 37,
58; not liked by Victor Emanuel,
62 (and note), 84; minister for
war and marine, III, 114; com-
le el
INDEX
mands expedition to Crimea, 117,
134, 135, 159, 166, 171, 172, 181,
213; becomes prime minister, 223,
220,230 Bene OOS, 234,. 235,
239, 240; rides out alone, finds
himself on the field of battle, 246;
is searched for in vain, 247 ; orders
Della Rocca to hold Villafranca,
248, 249, 250, 2513 insists on re-
signing his post of chief of the staff,
252, 253, 254 (and note), 257, 258;
disastrous telegrams sent by, 259
(note), 260, 261, 262, 263 ; divisional
chief of the staff, 264 5 ‘compelled
to ask for an armistice, 266, 267 ;
sacrifices his popularity to save
Italy, 268, 269, 271; retires from
public life, 272 ; death of, 287.
La Tour, Baron, 19, 20, 21 ; Governor
of Turin in ’48, 51.
Leo XIII. (Cardinal Pecci), 187.
Leopold II. of Tuscany grants Con-
stitution, 50.
M
MacMAHON, General, 135, 141, 148 ;
gains battle of Magenta, is made
Marshal of France and Duke of
Magenta, 149; president of the
French Republic, 288.
Magenta, battle of, 148, e¢ seg.
Mahomet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, 34.
Margaret, Princess of Savoy, after-
wards Queen of Italy, marriage of,
279 ; gives birth to Prince of Naples,
280, 282, 288, 291, 292.
Maria Adelaide of Austria, Duchess
of Savoy (afterwards Queen of
Sardinia), marries Victor Emanuel,
Duke of Savoy (afterwards Victor
Emanuel II.), 38; character of, 40,
41, 42, III, 113, 1143 dies, 118,
119.
—— Christine of Naples, Duchess
of Genevese (afterwards Queen of
Sardinia), 8 (and note); named
regent, 27.
Maria Clotilde of France, wife of
Charles Emanuel IV., 5.
— Elizabeth of Savoy, Arch-
duchess of Austria and Vice-Queen
of Lombardy, 36, 43.
of Saxony,
Duke of Genoa, 113.
marries the
297
Maria Theresa of Austria, Princess of
Carignano (afterwards Queen of
Sardinia), marries Charles Albert,
Prince of Carignano (afterwards
King of Sardinia), 10; gives birth
to a son, 123 dies, 118.
—- d’Este, Duchess of Aosta
(afterwards Queen of Sardinia),
enters Turin, 7; character of,
9; farewell words of, 19 (and
note).
of Savoy, 7.
Pia of Savoy, afterwards Queen
of Portugal, birth of, 48.
Mathilde, Princess, 132.
Mazzini, G., writes to Charles Albert,
29, 31, 126, 128, 130, 201, 202;
tries to stir up discontent in the
army, 206.
Menabrea, General, 134, 135, 2183
becomes prime minister, 278, 279;
forces priest to give absolution to
the king, 280; the fall of, 281.
Mentana, battle of, 279.
Minghetti, Marco, prime minister,
217, 221; proposes to declare mar-
tial law in Turin, 222; fall of, 223.
Mirafiore, Countess of (la bella
Rosina), asa girl, 41 (note) ; dresses
theatrically, 190, 280.
N
NAPOLEON I., Emperor, I, 153, 154.
— Louis, Prince, afterwards
Emperor Napoleon III., 115, 120;
tries to persuade Victor Emanuel
to marry again, 122; attempted
assassination of by Orsini, 127,
128; vehemently accuses Sardinian
government, 128, 129; is mollified
by Victor Emanuel’s letter, 130,
131; promises aid against Austria,
132, 1333 disembarks at Genoa,
139, 141 ; meets Duke of Chartres,
145, 147; creates MacMahon Duke
of Magenta, 149, 150, 154; reads
Empress Eugenie’s letter to Victor
Emanuel, 156, 157; at Solferino,
158, 159, 162, 163, 165, 166; enters
Milan, 167; leaves for France, 168,
169; objects to annexation of
Tuscany by Victor Emanuel, 171 ;
covets Savoy and Nice, 173;
agrees to annexations, 174, 179,
298
180; has no faith in Cavour’s suc-
cessors, 217, 224, 237, 263, 267,
272 (note), 273.
Napoleon, Jerome, Prince, 164; dis-
cussion with Cavour, 165, 166, 167 ;
sent by the emperor to persuade
Victor Emanuel to accede to armis-
tice, 265.
Niel, Marshal, 136, 141, 147, 150, 160.
Novara, retreat on, 95, ef seq.
Nugent, General, 69, 70, 77.
O
ORSINI, Felice, a leader of ‘ Young
Italy,’ 29; attempts to assassinate
the Emperor Napoleon III., 127,
128; letter to the emperor, 132,
133.
P
Pao.tucci, General, invited to re-
constitute Piedmontese army, 26 ;
made governor of Genoa, 27.
Palestro, battle of, 143, e¢ seg.
Pastrengo, battle of, 60, e¢ seg.
Peschiera, fortress of, fall of, 74.
Pius IX., Pope, grants amnesty to
political prisoners, 45, 48, 59, 275.
R
RADETZKY, Marshal, 39, 64, 67, 68,
69, 70; marches on Vicenza, 76;
returns to Verona, 77, 78, 79, 83;
invests Milan, Charles Albert
capitulates, 86, 89 (note), 93,
94, 95, 97; drives Italian army
back on Novara, 98; lays down
hard conditions, 99, 106; meets
King Victor Emanuel at Vignale,
107.
Ramorino, General, 31; disobeys
orders, 943; a traitor, 105; con-
demned and shot, 106. -
Rattazzi, Urban, 217, 275, 277, 278.
Ricasoli Bettino, Marquis, 215 (and
notes), 217; speech in favour of
concord, 225, 265, 266, 275.
Ruffini, L., a leader of ‘Young
Italy,’ 29.
‘INDEX
S
SAN MARTINO, battle of, 160, e¢ seg.
Schmidt, General, commander of
Papal troops in Perugia, 83, 184,
185 ; made prisoner, 186.
Solferino, battle of, 159.
E
THIERS, Adolphe M.,1; takes a
daily riding lesson, 43.
Trochu, General, 141.
Tiirr, General, 199, 200.
U
URBAN, General, 148, 151.
Usedom, Count, Prussian minister at
Florence, 238.
Vv
VAILLANT, Marshal, 139, 163, 1643
at Milan, 169, 170.
Venetia annexed to Italy, 273.
Victoria, Queen, 120, 122, 288.
Victor Amadeus II., 5 (note).
III., 6 (note).
—— Emanuel I., 4, 5, 7 (and note), 8,
9, 10, 14 (note), 15, 17, 18; abdi-
cates and leaves for Nice, 19;
urged to resume the crown but
refuses, 22; death of, 24, 26, 27,
113.
Duke of Savoy (after-
wards Victor Emanuel II.), 6;
birth of, 12, 33, 36; marriage
of, 40, 41, 42; goes among the
crowd disguised, 50, 51; com-
mands a division, 54, 55, 56, 57;
60; dislikes La Marmora, 62, 60,
70, 71, 723 is wounded, 73> 78,
79; storms Monte Torre, 80; at
Custoza, 81-87, 90, 94, 95,
96; becomes king, 99, 100; un-
affected by serious state of affairs,
101; first ministry of, 102, 106;
meets Radetzky, 107, 108, 109, I11,
II4, 115; summons Cavour to
form a ministry, 116; goes to Paris
and London, 120, I2I, 122,
INDEX ! 299
127; letter of read to Napoleon,
130, 131,132, 133; saying of, about
Giulay, 137; receives Don Neri
Corsini, 138, 140, 141; cheered by
the French soldiers, 142 ; charges
with the Zouaves, 144, 1453 pre-
sented with the stripes of a corporal
by the Zouaves, 146; receives
Milanese deputation, 150; accepts
sovereignty of Lombardy, 151; at
Milan, 154; enters Brescia, 155;
rides out with Napoleon, 156, 157 ;
at S. Martino, 159, 160, 161, 162,
163 ; stormy interview with Cavour,
165; refuses to accede to Cavour’s
wish, signs treaty of Villafranca,
166; enthusiastically received at
Milan, 167, 169, 170, 171; is re-
conciled to Cavour and appoints him
prime minister, 172, 173, 174; gains ©
seven or eight millions of subjects
by the loss of two or three millions,
175 visits the new provinces, 176,
178; told to be quick by Napoleon,
180; enters Ancona, 189, 190;
marches towards the Garigliano,
192; beats the Bourbon troops,
193; letter of to Della Rocca,
195 (note), 196; averse to dis-
banding Garibaldians, 198; entry
into Naples, 200 ; interview of with
Garibaldi, 201, 203; leaves for
Turin, 205; acknowledged by Eng-
land as King of Italy, 210, 212;
received with enthusiasm by French
sailors at Naples, 217, 218; dis-
misses Minghetti, 223, 224; leaves
Turin for new capital, Florence,
229, 230, 231, 234; declares war
on Austria, 239; at Villafranca,
248, 249; wishes Della Rocca to
assume La Marmora’s position, 252,
253, 254 (note); goes to Della
Rocca at Piadena, 259, 260; Na-
poleon’s unexpected proposal to,
263, 265; sends for Della Rocca,
267, 268, 270; ill at Padua, 271;
receives Venetian deputation, 273;
enters Venice, 274 ; makes Rattazzi
prime minister, 275; protests
against Garibaldi’s action, 278;
alarming illness of, 280; makes
Lanza prime minister, 281; goes
to Rome, 283; death of, 287;
Queen Victoria speaks about, 288.
Visconti-Venosta, Marquis, 218, 265,
266.
W
WILLIAM I., King of Prussia, coro-
nation of, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216,
238.
\ THE END
Colston & Coy. Limited Printers Edinburgh.
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY
ae
Y
Do not ¥
remove |
the card |
Acme Library Card Pocket
Under Pat. “‘ Ref. Index File.”’
Made by LIBRARY BUREAU
elds a> 3
ie 2G ae een ermer rns
ye ard r > ear oa
mle jo Sst ores e
afsagets Siar? eBrase fee
Tk tary er,
ebt acho
SRS b hs HTS f; : i
2 ; : eS = : , ites
r pepmbeshs joorwiery aes
Sit
bat heseatd
ares
fa oa
Serena peStieuabas
SESSA Ste,
es
3
murat
aS.
TRS be Ss:
ete eS = ates =
or peed SFy , - me -
be pearly | rime + 4s Sta = pe erstd eos ¢ - -
; 7 Sy eared trae 3 . wait os : - pertetert yt. iron tiapeote
‘ ~ . E a 3 3 Hrestin seertess
i tee oh
nee
pestergss te erarees ee
ts)
gmel meses sige
piigre treet eee
fever
. pwertirtin Stes
tte metts erat
See
pas cst tiaitd frets ee et
Ciera Ganilitsciisonl Cate + Pi Str oie E ist + :
iiiitesie ree teiy fae Ss oss " Reet aissiee 2 Vth. : . a : = syst
; ein tae ls . es 2 att ha Dees od tet res jg ie ooay er rie te ie eS Sa 5k, : x ; : _ 3
Riaece cee! pire St aeatcih
Bike aserasidesth sa asebwrseens spore
Taito
IE $5585 i x eset;
SHES te a fitsi
2 peters era sear pei:
; Ee Teases ive HauIR Stags Hat steed han z
sRSpaslsiseat boeiwes op aroabarceenentees ilies {25S CIDt hand SeNTERTE TSS
cEsT ER So yarh weeees
eae tie: re7
3a=th
= pepirete= ~ —s ; - -; 5 ef “ i * ls 5 = :
in eee etter eeeers
iiBiii oe treet ase ieee > ia STS : :
yo rte Te - = . ore
te . Potgdi tae Siz
: 5
3 iS prrik Soaseee eS CREATE TT
$3: *: 1° = wer bas oded
Sots ei
aise eere Rit
Hlaeadels
es ee
THe i : SStit “= i= abitets Seceseskcetsae: =e 3 #3 ie canoes: chess ; oat pete 7 : ete : : = : ety ae et : ies s : ; ats
Be. oo yi) Saessthe Ca RSS $x 4 fy eset med seprieteaeaeaesine Pepseses ats = Siti cabaeat sls. bistc $3 Paice =
scrixearien: a teeeie = iter - eat ee aig hgoten tp to-bs sore ss : 2 ak : ipessomees - : ‘4 oy peasateeec Bi2 Sci
Ae eiesiete ee Hani: ; : ssh weer Has easel abe Mi rcches Sheree ae San SETE SS: S pinabad te pass SAUCE EH
Sear 3 eet istics BS eieshs ieaseas uptithins felcrrie a$¢ fry ; mie 3
dias SHED Ebru REET iftiensests eats Stes Revises E Seeger
Forages eM aeoe teehee spat erenmetat ae (riririeeeerieeer eter gs pear eee ities pie
ESAS m ee rpbwrsytiey iss trotters He Tpauenspusests vest = i ahs sat i te oe ca ¢ wes 203] z
3/01 CoM be Se eet eee Ti SEMIS itms ts poets FLFST Fe 5d Siva ot ee ppagecs sree
easeae5